History of documentaries

 

The history of documentary filmmaking started with early filmmakers such as the Lumiere brothers in the late 1800s up to 1920. These were less like documentaries as we know them today, instead being referred to as ‘actualities’ which were recordings of people going about their daily lives and everyday events with little or no commentary. These ‘actualities’ were created to show the reality that normal people live in. The term documentary was popularised by John Grierson in the 1920s and 30s and he defined the term as ‘creative treatment of actuality’ which builds on the foundation set out by figures such as the Lumiere brothers. This new definition of the term introduced narrative, structure and social purpose for creating documentaries, this is where the widely recognised view on documentaries started. Many documentaries of this time were state funded and made to fit the purpose of education or to build political leverage. During the 1930s and 40s, documentaries became even more political and start being used in mass propaganda campaigns to raise morale and during this time started to mix truth with persuasion and started using music and strong narration to further influence the public. In the 50s and 60s documentary filmmaking further evolved thanks to the assistance of lightweight cameras and portable filming equipment meaning filmmakers could now follow subjects as certain events unfolded which completely changed both cinema and documentaries and allowed for two distinct types of documentary to emerge: cinema verité (filmmakers engage with the subjects) and direct cinema (filmmakers merely observe and record the events unfolding). From the 70s all the way up to the 90s, the genres within documentaries became more prominent as they became more accessible due to technological advancements of the time. Filmmakers focused on some very diverse ideas during this time such as identity, power, culture, and injustice. This is also when individuals started creating documentaries to promote their own worldview which often involved critique of society or government. For example the documentary ‘Hearts and Minds’ on the Vietnam war was a profound documentary that pioneered the genre of war documentaries through it’s more unbiased way of showing evidence with little to no commentary at all throughout the documentary. In the modern era, digital technology and the internet allowed for documentary filmmaking to further advance the field, allowing for more people to be able to make documentaries as the costs are lower to produce and publish documentaries meaning almost anyone can do it. This is because the improvements in technology such as lightweight cameras, audio equipment and even smartphones allowed for documentaries to be filmed with ease in basically any setting. The editing software that came about in the modern age such as Adobe Premier Pro and other software allowed filmmakers to produce films on lower budgets, refine narratives, and experiment more freely. This allowed for independent creators to begin competing with large budget corporations for viewership and allowed for it to be posted easily on social media platforms and video sharing platforms. This opened the door for many new genres more focused on dramatization of events for social impact and validation in the public sphere. To conclude, the history has come a long way from the pure observational nature of early documentaries produced by people such as the Lumiere Brothers to the very biased, opinionated and dramatized documentaries of the modern age. This progression was also technological as  cameras evolved and became more advanced as well as audio equipment and editing software.