The documentary genre is a combination of capturing a slice of life, and manipulating it to be aesthetically pleasing as a presentation of its subject. Fiction is not too different; it captures a subject, and seeks to present it in a captivating way too. What makes documentary and fiction different, however, is fiction’s creation of a fabricated subject. Even documentary with a strong political agenda concerns itself with tangible subject matter as it exists in the non-fiction world.
Some other elements are exclusive to documentary film. The capturing of the subject, either with audio recording, video capturing, or photography, is different than the invention of fictional subject. Since documentary does not require the creation of a fictional subject, creativity is expressed in visual angling, audio filters, clipping and editing, and countless other techniques. In fiction, creativity can be applied to style and form as well as character traits and clothes. The palette for expression is quite different from one to the other.
My definition of documentary would not allow Parks and Recreation or Pirates of the Caribbean to be classified as documentary features or programs. The television program seeks to emulate the format, but it has created its characters, and it has created a fictional universe for them to inhabit. As such, it is more mockumentary than documentary. Similarly, although Pirates convincingly creates a romantic swashbuckling past, it is essentially an invented one.
No comments:
Post a Comment