Film Genres | Nonfiction Films

Various definitions of the nonfictional film have been presented and elaborated.

The most familiar, but most abused and most misunderstood term in the film lexicon, documentary,
has been applied to such diverse cinematic forms as propaganda films, newsreels, travelogues,
military and classroom training films, and films of music concerts.

The nonfictional filmmaker present actual physical reality in a form that strives to be faithful to
actuality. Unlike the fictional filmmaker, who transforms the world through his/her imaginary
conception of it, the nonfiction filmmaker creatively records and interprets the world without
substantially altering it.

The nonfiction film responds to immediate moments, and is therefore rooted in a cultural context
that should be studied along with the film. It originates in specific social situations: sometimes a
problem, sometimes a crisis, sometimes an undramatic and seemingly unimportant person or event.
It is usually filmed on the actual scene, with the actual people, without sets, costumes, written
dialogue, or created sound effects. It tries to recreate the feeling of "being there," with as much
fidelity to fact as the situation allows.

The structure is two or three parts, with an introduction and conclusion, and tends to follow a
pattern that moves from statement of problem to advocacy of solution.

The nonfiction filmmaker may choose from various approaches to the genre, but in the brief history
of the medium three have been most apparent: the factual approach, the documentary approach,
and the direct cinema approach.

Factual approach
Contrary to the popular belief, the facts do not speak for themselves, especially in cinema. They
require structure and interpretation, elements that reflect the filmmaker's vision. Unlike the
documentary film, the factual film ordinary lacks a specific message, however, if it has one, it does
not necessary take precedence over other cinematic aspects of the film.

What is important is the facts, but when we acknowledge that film is an art, we also acknowledge
that the purely factual film is something of an impossibility.

Nonfictional films are not primarily intended to be commercial and are not released by commercial
distributors unless it is believed that they will be unusually broad in their appeal.
Documentary approach
Nonfiction film was pioneered and developed by the French, the Americans, the Russians, and the
British, but the most influential theories regarding the documentary approach came from the British,
notably from John Grierson and Paul Rotha.

John Grierson
was the father of the documentary film. He was the first to apply the term documentary (when
reviewed Flaherty's "Moana" in 1926) and in 1928 he established the first documentary film
production unit sponsored by the british government.

His views provided the philosophical foundation for the production and development of ocumentary
film. From the beginning, he sought to develop a sense of community, placing his patriotism and
commitment to national goals over and above any personal achievement he might have made with
his films.

The origins of the british documentary movement lay in sociological, not aesthetic aims, in a belief in
film as a means of national communication, not in a feeling for film as art.

His principles of documentary are fundamental. He believed

1 - that the documentary filmmaker could reveal the real world.

2 - that he had more imaginative degree of control over his material than the maker of fiction films,
and

3 - that he could make the materials and stories taken from raw stuff of everyday life more real than
the acted article.

His theory is not without its problems, but his essential convictions are that documentary film should
be a creative treatment of everyday actuality and that the filmmaker should be committed to
crystallizing civic sentiments and to furthering national goals.

Paul Rotha
like Grierson, he is idealistic, but unlike him, he believes (because he is an artist) in cinematic form
and properties. In addition to emphasizing cinematic properties he emphasizes humanistic ideals. He
is concerned with issues that transcend time and place, and he is likewise concerned with finding
immediate examples in the contemporary world that exemplify these issues.

He asks the documentary filmmaker be both a sociologist and a cinematographer and, whenever
possible, a poet, too.

The documentary film is distinguished from the factual film by its sociopolitical purpose, its
"message."

It attempts to fuse two concerns that often prove to be incompatible in art - medium and message.
Medium and message are not synonyms for form and content, but rather attest to a different
situation in which the medium is regarded by some as less important than the message.
Direct Cinema Approach

or cinema vérité was created in the late 1950's by filmmakers who were frustrated by the inherent
limitations of the factual and documentary approaches. Accepting the concept that nonfiction films
could be an art film, and that it need not be dull, they searched for a cinematic language that would
help them to realize the form.

Their achievement reaffirms the fundamental realist impulse behind all nonfiction film.

Here two kinds of language are important:

- the cinematic language as it has been affected by the new lightweight equipment, and

- the language (spoken and natural sound) as it is heard on the soundtrack

In these film the filmmaker is an intermediary between the viewer and the subject, rather than an
obstacle, subservient to the script, to preconceived thematic statement, or to plotted narrative.
Motivated by spontaneity, the filmmaker has an obligation to the moment, to presenting as many
facets of the actual situation as s/he is able to record with camera and tape recorder.

Art presupposes the presence of the artist, but in direct cinema, the artist submerges himself into his
material. Establishing his/hers persona is not important, for his consciousness is intrinsically a part
of the film that it does not become an obstacle to our own.