The History of Documentaries
The History
of Documentaries
Pioneers of
early film, the Lumière Brothers, created one of the earliest recognitions of
documentary film, with ‘The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station’.
The film was a huge success, receiving immediate positive praise and immense engagement
for its profound naturalism and richness to everyday life. The official title
‘Documentary’ was later crowned in the 1920s, seeked by filmmaker John Grieson,
valuing the opinion that films had the powerful ability to document reality,
this later emphasised the sense of activism within documentary filmmaking, to
use the medium to express political outrage and spread awareness on all kinds
of different subjects.
World War Two
advanced the power of documentaries, now being used as a source of propaganda
within the war. ‘Let there be light’ was
regarded as one of the most significant and impactful of the era, its
educating on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder regarding
soldiers, led to the censoring from its release. Another release ‘Why We
Fight’ projected an educational guidance to the motivations behind World
War Two.
Cinema-verité was
another advancement in documentaries, with the style of filmmaking, using new technical
equipment such as portable cameras and sound devices to capture raw reality,
that focused on observational storytelling and highlighted realism. The style
heavily used hand-held cameras and worked in small crews. Well know examples of
the genre include ‘The Snowshoers’, ‘Near Death’, and ‘Salesman’.
Nearing into
Modern Documentaries, the genre has and continues to reach new levels of
attention, expanding the genre from low budget filmmaking to biographical
cinematic releases, nature documentaries, and true crime documentaries. The
rise of streaming services, and the notable Covid-19 pandemic, boosted ‘binge
watching’ culture to new levels.
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