What is a documentary?

What is a documentary?

By Sergio Herrera

Poll

Have you ever seen a documentary?

• yes

• no

• I'm not sure

• Does the news count?

Open Ended

What have you seen?

Describe it in a sentence.

Open Ended

What do you think of when you hear the term "documentary"?

Can you identify conventions of the documentary form?

I'm about to play a short documentary.

Analyze it.

​

• What is the topic? Is it something you would expect to see in a newscast or a newspaper?

• Who tells the story?

• What types of shots are used?

• What was the purpose of this documentary?​

• Who or what is on screen most of the time?

Media Analysis - Always keep the following questions in mind

Open Ended

What was this documentary about?

Open Ended

Is this something you would expect to see in a news story?

Why or why not?

Open Ended

What kind of shots can you identify?