Supplementary Notes for Documentary AND Film History:
The term 'documentary' has long been a source of argument. An early pioneer of such filmmaking was called John Grierson and although he thought it a 'clumsy' term, he suggested it should stand. Another definition of this genre that Grierson used was 'the creative interpretation of actuality'. What do you think that phrase might mean?
Consider one of the first kinds of documentary - in fact one of the first kinds of film at all - the movies that earlier pioneers made outside factories at the end of a shift when large numbers of workers could be seen leaving for home. What aspects of this kind of simple filmmaking can be considered?
• Actual (A) - in other words something that would have happened whether or not the camera was there?
• Creative (C) - in other words affected by practical decisions made by the director/camera operator, and which had the effect of making the sequence more entertaining
• Interpretive (I) - in other words affected by practical decisions made by the camera operator/director that might affect an audience's understanding of what they were seeing.
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