Documentary Overview

Overview: A documentary film is non fictional motion picture (Although it can have fictional elements) intended to document some aspect reality/normal life  mainly for the purpose of instruction, maintaining or observation a historical record.

Modern Documentaries: Box office analysts have noted that this film genre has become increasingly successful in theatrical release for the most part with films such as Fahrenheit 9/11, Super Size Me,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 but they do not have widespread interest to match their box office 

The nature of documentary films has expanded in the past 20 years from the cinema verité 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 the late Marlon Riggs's Tongues Untied (1989) and Black Is...Black Ain't (1995), which mix expressive, poetic, and rhetorical elements and stresses subjective rather than historical materials.

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.

Transfer to television: Like most of film forms documentaries have moved to television or melded together. With the development of "reality television" that occasionally verges on the documentary but more often veers to the fictional or staged, however with shows like 24 hours in A&E where real life stories are still shown with minimal interaction from the crew.

Narration styles

With most documentaries they have a narrative each that fits what they showing

• 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.