Reconstructions of true events do not belong to documentary filmmaking. However, documentary works can use fragments of feature films as well as staging, provocations, and other staged elements invented especially for the occasion.
Objectives of Documentaries
Teaching tool (in other words, “educational films”)
Research (geographic, zoological, historical, ethnographic, etc.)
Propaganda (science, goods, technology, religion, etc.)
Chronicle (long-term observation of an event, reportage, etc.)
Publicity
What unites them (all of the above) is the common goal of all documentary film: “to tell us about the world we live in” (Hugh Badley).
Documentary filmmaking is a complex genre that takes a long time to prepare and work on: life and documentary material is selected, on the basis of which the script is created. The structure of a documentary varies: it uses both staged and reportage shooting, field and interior shooting, archival video- and photographs. You can observe the benefits of documentaries on television. The most actual, bright and extraordinary of them invariably enjoy wide popularity among viewers of absolutely different age and social categories.
However, it should be noted that the term “documentary film” is questioned by many modern film scholars and film critics. The fact is that according to many directors, any person at the sight of the camera to some extent begins to play, perform a certain role, behave unnaturally – and as a result the film becomes to some extent staged. That is why many experts deny the existence of documentary film at all, considering it only a subgenre of fiction cinema. And these experts consider only films shot with a hidden camera from beginning to end to be real documentaries. They call such cinema filmed with a hidden camera a true documentary.
Another category of films classified as documentaries are educational (educational) films. Films designed to be shown in schools and other educational institutions. Studies show that educational material presented in the form of a film is absorbed much better than the same material retold by the teacher. It seems to be a matter of clarity and polished presentation of the material (not surprisingly, because in the cinema there are probably a lot of takes).
