Regroup

After me and Faraz decided on creating a documentary on "The Life Of A Druggie" we decided to allow Nazir to join our group as his group member (Josh) decided he didn't want to do the course anymore. This left us with a dilemma as he had created an idea about a documentary exploring the Illuminati in the music industry. We decided that we would need to have a discussion so that we could decide on which documentary to do, The Life of a Druggie? or The Illuminati?  

Discussion

This was our discussion after our regrouping, here we spoke about all of our ideas and decided that the Illuminati would be the most interesting as it is a subject that isn't attempted so often.

10 Most popular documentaries of 2010

1. Inside Job - Financial Meltdown
2.  Cat Fish
3. Fat, sick and nearly Dead - Health Documentary
4. Cave of Forgotten dreams - Evolution
5. The People Vs George Lucas - Courtroom debate
6. Senna - Brazilian Racing car driver
7. Waste Land - Human Spirit
8. Exit Trough the Gift shop - Banksy
9. Jackass 3D - Stunt show
10. Waiting for Superman - Education

Documentary Genres

•  Animated Documentaries - combines the genres of animation and documentary

• Ethnographic Film -  documentary related to the methods of ethnology Digital Storytelling - people with their own tools who make a story about how they live

• Docudrama - is a documentary style that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events a few example are THe kings speech and The Social Network.

•  Ethnofiction - a mixture of documentary and fiction film in the area of visual anthropology

• Mockumentary -  where fictitious events are presented in documentary format

•  Nature Documentary - a wildlife documentary, about animals, the world and anything about nature

• Reality Film - films which have resulted from reality television

• Travel Documentary - documentary that describes travel in general or tourist attractions in a non-commercial way

• Visual Sociology - explores sociology in society so families, work ethics, people's lifestyles etc.  

The History of Documentaries

Late 18^th early 19^th Century
In the early 1900’s documentaries were used to capture specific events and moments. Things such as a train entering a tunnel, people leaving work and a boat docking were most popular. This type of filming was known as actuality filming.
Between 1898-1901 a Romanian professor created 7 documentaries on Neurology. All these 7 documentaries have been preserved as they are some of the earliest documentaries created.
1920-1940 In the late 20’s and 40’s documentaries were used to persuade audiences point of view. Most documentaries in the UK focused on the world war and effect on the public. In Germany, documentaries were seen as a good propaganda tool, as Adolf Hitler commissioned many which range from the rise of the Nazis to stereotyping its enemies.
60’s-70’sDocumentaries took a dramatic change during this time, instead of producing scientific and wildlife documentaries, film makers focused of political warfare. One of the most famous political documentaries is Chile: A special Report, this helped a generation overthrow its government and replace it with army rule.
Modern DayAnalysts have seen an increase of film documentaries being produced and shown in cinema’s. This may be down to documentaries being far cheaper to make than films, but bring in higher profits. An example of a box office sensation is March Of The Penguins as it grossed over $127,000 world wide it was later released on DVD where profits soared.

Trailers And Documentaries

Trailers

Trailers were first used in cinemas to advertise upcoming films. However, they were shown at the end of every film credits, by this time the audience had already left the cinema. The decision was made to show trailers at the beggining so that the audience would see them.

A trailer tells the story in a matter of minutes.  They usually consist of three parts, beginning –middle-end. Most trailers have a voice over to tell the story and help the audience follow the plot. Voice over’s normally done by famous actors such as Morgan Freeman. Whilst the trailer is running often you will hear music in the background, this helps set the mood of the film and helps the audience understand the mindset of particular characters.

Documentaries

There are many documentaries that vary from conspiracy theories, wildlife and hard hitting programmes such as alcoholism and drug taking.

Documentaries can be made in so many different ways, one of these is re-enactment. Producers often choose to use this type of filming as it helps the audience imagine what is happening an example of this is Osama Bin Laden- Shoot to kill. this showed the build up to Osama’s death with accounts from the President Of The USA, Navy Seals and White House Officials.

 

At the start of the course we were given 15 briefs to look at, we had to choose one of these to focus on. 
 The brief me and Faraz decided we would focus on was brief 7.


An extract from an original documentary TV programme, lasting approximately five minutes, together with two of the following three options:  

•  a radio trailer for the documentary; 
• a double-page spread from a listings magazine focused on the documentary; 
•  a newspaper advertisement for the documentary.