Documentary in Depth - Research Paper Example

From the time Grierson coined the term to exemplify how reality could be an art form if interspersed with creativity; documentary filmmaking has traveled a long and eventful path sometimes evoking a close resemblance to the realm of fiction but always maintaining a distinct cultural and social identity. This discussion borrows ideas from documentary theorists like Stella Bruzzi, Jonathan Kahana, Jane Roscoe, and Craig Hight to name a few.The need to document ‘real’ events existed almost at the same time when motion picture as a medium of communication became an integral and quintessential part of human life.

In its early stages, the primary intention and the subsequent benefit of recording a live action or event were the freedom it gave to have control over time, by either slowing it down, stopping it completely, or reversing it making the captured footage a substitute or an equivalent to a written document or text. This can be seen as early as the 1900s when events like a prize fight or a surgery were captured on camera and stored as a valuable resource that could be used for future reference.The term ‘documentary’ has had a multitude of definitions and interpretations from various theorists at different points of time.

According to Kahana ‘documentary has been understood as a form of democratic and social pedagogy’ and he agrees with Paul Rotha’s theory that since movie-making technology along with social contradictions tends to hide the truth in various circumstances, documentaries could be used to convey a deeper or hidden meaning.