The Documentary Pre – AP English

What is a documentary? With a partner – discuss the similarities and differences between a documentary and a fictional film. You may want to use a ven diagram or T-chart. Be prepare to share you answer with the class.

What is a documentary? A documentary is a non-fiction motion picture intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purpose of instruction or maintaining a historical record.

Observation (Fly on the Wall) Putting the audience in a role of eyewitness where the camera appears to be unseen. Indirect address to the audiences, for example, speech overheard is a common factor of this en-scene observation.

Dramatization Although all documentaries use a sense of drama, it is specifically used to portray people and events the film maker cannot gain access to in real life. These sequences are said to be based on fact.

Interview Television documentaries use interviews to make a contrast between observation sequences and are structured in two ways: either intercut fragments of observation or a completely uninterrupted sequence.

Mise-en-scene What the directors and producers put into the frame, so for example: lighting and props in an interview.

Exposition Simply means the line of argument in a documentary which is what the doc’s saying. Sequences that lead the audience to make their own conclusions.