Pre-1900 Early film (pre-1900) was dominated by the novelty of showing an event. Single-shot moments were captured on film, such as a train entering a station, a boat docking, or factory workers leaving work. These short films were called "actuality" films; the term "documentary" was not coined until 1926. Many of the first films, such as those made by
Auguste and Louis Lumière, were a minute or less in length, due to technological limitations. Films showing many people (for example, leaving a factory) were often made for commercial reasons: the people being filmed were eager to see, for payment, the film showing them. One notable film clocked in at over an hour and a half,
The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight. Using pioneering film-looping technology,
Enoch J. Rector presented the entirety of a famous 1897 prize-fight on cinema screens across the United States. In May 1896,
Bolesław Matuszewski recorded on film a few surgical operations in
Warsaw and
Saint Petersburg hospitals. In 1898, French surgeon
Eugène-Louis Doyen invited Matuszewski and
Clément Maurice to record his surgical operations. They started in Paris a series of surgical films sometime before July 1898. Until 1906, the year of his last film, Doyen recorded more than 60 operations. Doyen said that his first films taught him how to correct professional errors he had been unaware of. For scientific purposes, after 1906, Doyen combined 15 of his films into three compilations, two of which survive, the six-film series
Extirpation des tumeurs encapsulées (1906), and the four-film
Les Opérations sur la cavité crânienne (1911). These and five other of Doyen's films survive. 's science films (1899) Between July 1898 and 1901, the Romanian professor
Gheorghe Marinescu made several science films in his
neurology clinic in
Bucharest:
Walking Troubles of Organic Hemiplegy (1898),
The Walking Troubles of Organic Paraplegies (1899),
A Case of Hysteric Hemiplegy Healed Through Hypnosis (1899),
The Walking Troubles of Progressive Locomotion Ataxy (1900), and
Illnesses of the Muscles (1901). All these short films have been preserved. The professor called his works "studies with the help of the cinematograph," and published the results, along with several consecutive frames, in issues of
La Semaine Médicale magazine from Paris, between 1899 and 1902. In 1924, Auguste Lumière recognized the merits of Marinescu's science films: "I've seen your scientific reports about the usage of the cinematograph in studies of nervous illnesses, when I was still receiving
La Semaine Médicale, but back then I had other concerns, which left me no spare time to begin biological studies. I must say I forgot those works and I am thankful to you that you reminded them to me. Unfortunately, not many scientists have followed your way."
1900–1920 with an
aeroscope camera during World War I
Travelogue films were very popular in the early part of the 20th century. They were often referred to by distributors as "scenics". Scenics were among the most popular sort of films at the time. An important early film which moved beyond the concept of the scenic was
In the Land of the Head Hunters (1914), which embraced
primitivism and
exoticism in a staged story presented as truthful re-enactments of the life of
Native Americans. Contemplation is a separate area.
Pathé was the best-known global manufacturer of such films in the early 20th century. A vivid example is
Moscow Clad in Snow (1909). Biographical documentaries appeared during this time, such as the feature
Eminescu-Veronica-Creangă (1914) on the relationship between the writers
Mihai Eminescu,
Veronica Micle and
Ion Creangă (all deceased at the time of the production), released by the
Bucharest chapter of
Pathé. Early color motion picture processes such as
Kinemacolor (known for the feature
With Our King and Queen Through India (1912)) and
Prizma Color (known for
Everywhere With Prizma (1919) and the five-reel feature
Bali the Unknown (1921)) used travelogues to promote the new color processes. In contrast,
Technicolor concentrated primarily on getting their process adopted by Hollywood studios for fiction feature films. Also during this period,
Frank Hurley's feature documentary film,
South (1919) about the
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition was released. The film documented the failed Antarctic expedition led by
Ernest Shackleton in 1914.
1920s Romanticism '' poster With
Robert J. Flaherty's
Nanook of the North in 1922, documentary film embraced
romanticism. Flaherty filmed a number of heavily staged romantic documentary films during this time period, often showing how his subjects would have lived 100 years earlier and not how they lived right then. For instance, in
Nanook of the North, Flaherty did not allow his subjects to shoot a walrus with a nearby shotgun, but had them use a harpoon instead. Some of Flaherty's staging, such as building a roofless
igloo for interior shots, was done to accommodate the filming technology of the time.
Paramount Pictures tried to repeat the success of Flaherty's
Nanook and
Moana with two romanticized documentaries,
Grass (1925) and
Chang (1927), both directed by
Merian C. Cooper and
Ernest Schoedsack.
City symphony The "
city symphony" sub
film genre consisted of
avant-garde films during the 1920s and 1930s. These films were particularly influenced by
modern art, namely
Cubism,
Constructivism, and
Impressionism. According to
art historian and author
Scott MacDonald, city symphony films can be described as, "An intersection between documentary and avant-garde film: an
avant-doc"; however, A.L. Rees suggests regarding them as avant-garde films. that
Berlin, represented what a documentary should not be); Alberto Cavalcanti's,
Rien que les heures; and Dziga Vertov's
Man with a Movie Camera. These films tend to feature people as products of their environment, and lean towards the avant-garde.
Kino-Pravda Dziga Vertov was central to the Soviet
Kino-Pravda (literally, "cinematic truth") newsreel series of the 1920s. Vertov believed the camerawith its varied lenses, shot-counter shot editing, time-lapse, ability to slow motion, stop motion and fast-motioncould render reality more accurately than the human eye, and created a film philosophy from it.
Newsreel tradition The
newsreel tradition is important in documentary film. Newsreels at this time were sometimes staged but were usually re-enactments of events that had already happened, not attempts to steer events as they were in the process of happening. For instance, much of the battle footage from the early 20th century was staged; the cameramen would usually arrive on site after a major battle and re-enact scenes to film them.
1930s–1940s The propagandist tradition consists of films made with the explicit purpose of persuading an audience of a point. One of the most celebrated and controversial
propaganda films is
Leni Riefenstahl's film
Triumph of the Will (1935), which chronicled the 1934
Nazi Party Congress and was commissioned by
Adolf Hitler. Leftist filmmakers
Joris Ivens and
Henri Storck directed
Borinage (1931) about the Belgian coal mining region.
Luis Buñuel directed a "
surrealist" documentary
Las Hurdes (1933).
Pare Lorentz's
The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936) and
The River (1938) and
Willard Van Dyke's
The City (1939) are notable
New Deal productions, each presenting complex combinations of social and ecological awareness, government propaganda, and leftist viewpoints.
Frank Capra's
Why We Fight (1942–1944) series was a newsreel series in the United States, commissioned by the government to convince the U.S. public that it was time to go to war.
Constance Bennett and her husband
Henri de la Falaise produced two feature-length documentaries,
Legong: Dance of the Virgins (1935) filmed in
Bali, and
Kilou the Killer Tiger (1936) filmed in
Indochina. In Canada, the
Film Board, set up by John Grierson, was set up for the same propaganda reasons. It also created newsreels that were seen by their national governments as legitimate counter-propaganda to the psychological warfare of
Nazi Germany orchestrated by
Joseph Goebbels. (on the left),
Elmar Klos,
Joris Ivens (2nd from the right), and
Jerzy Toeplitz. In Britain, a number of different filmmakers came together under John Grierson. They became known as the
Documentary Film Movement. Grierson,
Alberto Cavalcanti,
Harry Watt,
Basil Wright, and
Humphrey Jennings amongst others succeeded in blending propaganda, information, and education with a more poetic aesthetic approach to documentary. Examples of their work include
Drifters (John Grierson),
Song of Ceylon (Basil Wright),
Fires Were Started, and
A Diary for Timothy (Humphrey Jennings). Their work involved poets such as
W. H. Auden, composers such as
Benjamin Britten, and writers such as
J. B. Priestley. Among the best known films of the movement are
Night Mail and
Coal Face.
Calling Mr. Smith (1943) is an anti-Nazi color film created by
Stefan Themerson which is both a documentary and an avant-garde film against war.
1950s–1970s (1929–2006), the second
President of the Republic of Estonia, directed documentaries several years before his presidency. His film
The Winds of the Milky Way won a silver medal at the
New York Film Festival in 1977.
Cinéma-vérité Cinéma vérité (or the closely related
direct cinema) was dependent on some technical advances to exist: light, quiet and reliable cameras, and portable sync sound. Cinéma vérité and similar documentary traditions can thus be seen, in a broader perspective, as a reaction against studio-based film production constraints. Shooting on location, with smaller crews, would also happen in the
French New Wave, the filmmakers taking advantage of advances in technology allowing smaller, handheld cameras and synchronized sound to film events on location as they unfolded. Although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, there are important differences between cinéma vérité (
Jean Rouch) and the North American "
direct cinema", pioneered by, among others, Canadians
Michel Brault,
Pierre Perrault and
Allan King, and Americans
Robert Drew,
Richard Leacock,
Frederick Wiseman and
Albert and David Maysles. The directors of the movement take different viewpoints on their degree of involvement with their subjects. Kopple and Pennebaker, for instance, choose non-involvement (or at least no overt involvement), and Perrault, Rouch, Koenig, and Kroitor favor direct involvement or even provocation when they deem it necessary. The films
Chronicle of a Summer (
Jean Rouch),
Dont Look Back (
D. A. Pennebaker),
Grey Gardens (
Albert and David Maysles),
Titicut Follies (
Frederick Wiseman),
Primary and
Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (both produced by
Robert Drew),
Harlan County, USA (directed by
Barbara Kopple),
Lonely Boy (
Wolf Koenig and
Roman Kroitor) are all frequently deemed
cinéma vérité films. The fundamentals of the style include following a person during a crisis with a moving, often handheld, camera to capture more personal reactions. There are no sit-down interviews, and the
shooting ratio (the amount of film shot to the finished product) is very high, often reaching 80 to one. From there, editors find and sculpt the work into a film. The editors of the movementsuch as
Werner Nold,
Charlotte Zwerin,
Muffie Meyer,
Susan Froemke, and
Ellen Hovdeare often overlooked, but their input to the films was so vital that they were often given co-director credits. Famous cinéma vérité/direct cinema films include
The Snowshoers (Les Raquetteurs),
Showman,
Salesman,
Near Death, and
The Children Were Watching.
Political weapons In the 1960s and 1970s, documentary film was often regarded as a political weapon against
neocolonialism and
capitalism in general, especially in Latin America, but also in a changing society. (
The Hour of the Furnaces, from 1968), directed by
Octavio Getino and
Fernando Solanas, influenced a whole generation of filmmakers. Among the many political documentaries produced in the early 1970s was "Chile: A Special Report", public television's first in-depth expository look at the September 1973 overthrow of the
Salvador Allende government in Chile by military leaders under
Augusto Pinochet, produced by documentarians Ari Martinez and José Garcia. A June 2020 article in
The New York Times reviewed the political documentary
And She Could Be Next, directed by Grace Lee and Marjan Safinia. The
Times described the documentary not only as focusing on women in politics, but more specifically on women of color, their communities, and the significant changes they have wrought upon America.
Modern documentaries Box office analysts have noted that the documentary film genre has become increasingly successful in theatrical release with films such as
Fahrenheit 9/11,
Super Size Me,
Food, Inc.,
Earth,
March of the Penguins, and
An Inconvenient Truth among the most prominent examples. Compared to dramatic narrative films, documentaries typically have far lower budgets which makes them attractive to film companies because even a limited theatrical release can be highly profitable. The nature of documentary films has expanded in the past 30 years from the cinéma vérité style introduced in the 1960s in which the use of portable camera and sound equipment allowed an intimate relationship between filmmaker and subject. The line blurs between documentary and narrative and some works are very personal, such as
Marlon Riggs's
Tongues Untied (1989) and ''Black Is...Black Ain't'' (1995), which mix expressive, poetic, and rhetorical elements and stresses subjectivities rather than historical materials. Historical documentaries, such as the landmark 14-hour ''
Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years
(1986Part 1 and 1989Part 2) by Henry Hampton, 4 Little Girls (1997) by Spike Lee, The Civil War by Ken Burns, and UNESCO-awarded independent film on slavery 500 Years Later, express not only a distinctive voice but also a perspective and point of views. Some films such as The Thin Blue Line'' by
Errol Morris incorporate stylized re-enactments, and
Michael Moore's
Roger & Me place far more interpretive control with the director. The commercial success of these documentaries may derive from this narrative shift in the documentary form, leading some critics to question whether such films can truly be called documentaries; critics sometimes refer to these works as "
mondo films" or "docu-ganda." However, directorial manipulation of documentary subjects has been noted since the work of Flaherty, and may be endemic to the form due to problematic ontological foundations. Documentary filmmakers are increasingly using social impact campaigns with their films. Social impact campaigns seek to leverage media projects by converting public awareness of social issues and causes into engagement and action, largely by offering the audience a way to get involved. Examples of such documentaries include
Kony 2012,
Salam Neighbor, Gasland,
Living on One Dollar, and
Girl Rising. Although documentaries are financially more viable with the increasing popularity of the genre and the advent of the DVD, funding for documentary film production remains elusive. Within the past decade, the largest exhibition opportunities have emerged from within the broadcast market, making filmmakers beholden to the tastes and influences of the broadcasters who have become their largest funding source. Modern documentaries have some overlap with television forms, with the development of "reality television" that occasionally verges on the documentary but more often veers to the fictional or staged. The "making-of" documentary shows how a movie or a
computer game was produced. Usually made for promotional purposes, it is closer to an advertisement than a classic documentary. Modern lightweight digital video cameras and computer-based editing have greatly aided documentary makers, as has the dramatic drop in equipment prices. The first film to take full advantage of this change was
Martin Kunert and
Eric Manes'
Voices of Iraq, where 150 DV cameras were sent to Iraq during the war and passed out to Iraqis to record themselves.
Documentaries without words Films in the documentary form without words have been made.
Listen to Britain, directed by Humphrey Jennings and Stuart McAllister in 1942, is a wordless meditation on wartime Britain. From 1982, the
Qatsi trilogy and the similar
Baraka could be described as visual tone poems, with music related to the images, but no spoken content.
Koyaanisqatsi (part of the Qatsi trilogy) consists primarily of
slow motion and
time-lapse photography of cities and many natural landscapes across the United States.
Baraka tries to capture the great pulse of humanity as it flocks and swarms in daily activity and religious ceremonies.
Bodysong was made in 2003 and won a British Independent Film Award for "Best British Documentary." The 2004 film
Genesis shows animal and plant life in states of expansion, decay, sex, and death, with some, but little, narration.
Narration styles ; Voice-over narrator The traditional style for
narration is to have a dedicated narrator read a script which is dubbed onto the audio track. The narrator never appears on camera and may not necessarily have knowledge of the subject matter or involvement in the writing of the script. ; Silent narration This style of narration uses
title screens to visually narrate the documentary. The screens are held for about 5–10 seconds to allow adequate time for the viewer to read them. They are similar to the ones shown at the end of movies based on true stories, but they are shown throughout, typically between scenes. ; Hosted narrator In this style, there is a host who appears on camera, conducts interviews, and who also does voice-overs. == Other forms ==