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Film Genres | Nonfiction Films



​Various definitions of the nonfictional film have been presented and elaborated. 
The most familiar, but most abused and most misunderstood term in the film lexicon, documentary, has been applied 
to such diverse cinematic forms as propaganda films, newsreels, travelogues, military and classroom training films, and
 films of music concerts. 

The nonfictional filmmaker present actual physical reality in a form that strives to be faithful to actuality. 

Unlike the fictional filmmaker, who transforms the world through his/her imaginary conception of it, the nonfiction filmmaker 
creatively records and interprets the world without substantially altering it. 

The nonfiction film responds to immediate moments, and is therefore rooted in a cultural context that should be studied 

along with the film. It originates in specific social situations: sometimes a problem, sometimes a crisis, sometimes an undramatic 
and seemingly unimportant person or event. 

It is usually filmed on the actual scene, with the actual people, without sets, costumes, written dialogue, or created sound effects. 
It tries to recreate the feeling of "being there," with as much fidelity to fact as the situation allows. 


The structure is two or three parts, with an introduction and conclusion, and tends to follow a pattern that moves from 
statement of problem to advocacy of solution. 

The nonfiction filmmaker may choose from various approaches to the genre, but in the brief history of the medium three have been most apparent: the factual approach, the documentary approach, and the direct cinema approach. 



Factual approach

Contrary to the popular belief, the facts do not speak for themselves, especially in cinema. 
They require structure and interpretation, elements that reflect the filmmaker's vision. 

Unlike the documentary film, the factual film ordinary lacks a specific message, however, if it has one, 
it does not necessary take precedence over other cinematic aspects of the film. 

What is important is the facts, but when we acknowledge that film is an art, we also acknowledge 
that the purely factual film is something of an impossibility. 

Nonfictional films are not primarily intended to be commercial and are not released by commercial distributors unless 
it is believed that they will be unusually broad in their appeal. 

Documentary approach

Nonfiction film was pioneered and developed by the French, the Americans, the Russians, and the British, 
but the most influential theories regarding the documentary approach came from the British, 
notably from John Grierson and Paul Rotha. 

John Grierson

was the father of the documentary film. 
He was the first to apply the term documentary (when reviewed Flaherty's "Moana" in 1926) and in 1928 he established 
the first documentary film production unit sponsored by the British government. 

His views provided the philosophical foundation for the production and development of documentary film. 
From the beginning, he sought to develop a sense of community, placing his patriotism and commitment to national goals over 
and above any personal achievement he might have made with his films. 

The origins of the British documentary movement lay in sociological, not aesthetic aims, in a belief in film as a means 
of national communication, not in a feeling for film as art. 

His principles of documentary are fundamental. He believed 

1 - that the documentary filmmaker could reveal the real world.
2 - that he had more imaginative degree of control over his material than the maker of fiction films, and 
3 - that he could make the materials and stories taken from raw stuff of everyday life more real than the acted article. 

His theory is not without its problems, but his essential convictions are that documentary film should be a creative treatment 

of everyday actuality and that the filmmaker should be committed to crystallizing civic sentiments and to furthering national goals. 

Paul Rotha

like Grierson, he is idealistic, but unlike him, he believes (because he is an artist) in cinematic form and properties. 

In addition to emphasizing cinematic properties he emphasizes humanistic ideals. 
He is concerned with issues that transcend time and place, and he is likewise concerned with finding immediate examples 
in the contemporary world that exemplify these issues. 
He asks the documentary filmmaker be both a sociologist and a cinematographer and, whenever possible, a poet, too. 


The documentary film is distinguished from the factual film by its sociopolitical purpose, its "message." 
It attempts to fuse two concerns that often prove to be incompatible in art - medium and message. 
Medium and message are not synonyms for form and content, but rather attest to a different situation in which the medium 
is regarded by some as less important than the message.

Direct Cinema Approach

or cinema vérité was created in the late 1950's by filmmakers who were frustrated by the inherent limitations of the factual 
and documentary approaches. Accepting the concept that nonfiction films could be an art film, and that it need not be dull, 
they searched for a cinematic language that would help them to realize the form. 

Their achievement reaffirms the fundamental realist impulse behind all nonfiction film. 
Here two kinds of language are important:

- the cinematic language as it has been affected by the new lightweight equipment, and 
- the language (spoken and natural sound) as it is heard on the soundtrack 

In these film the filmmaker is an intermediary between the viewer and the subject, rather than an obstacle, 

subservient to the script, to preconceived thematic statement, or to plotted narrative. 

Motivated by spontaneity, the filmmaker has an obligation to the moment, to presenting as many facets of the actual situation 
as s/he is able to record with camera and tape recorder. 

Art presupposes the presence of the artist, but in direct cinema, the artist submerges himself into his material. 
Establishing his/hers persona is not important, for his consciousness is intrinsically a part of the film that it does not 
become an obstacle to our own. 


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