Are what we are creating, these short videos, documentaries?

In my “True Lies” course, it was suggested in a reading that every piece of media is documentary, as it is a product of the society in which is was created. I would say our short clips are documentary of sorts. They give insight into our own thoughts, perspectives and visions, though i’m struggling to decide where i draw the line. Is something ever not a documentary?

Is a photo of the ground taken by mistake documentary? It is documenting a mistake, a memory and the ground itself. So what makes something a documentary? I guess it depends on interpretation and intent.  In regard to my own vines, i thought of them more in terms of art; trying to capture something from a  unique perspective in a unique way, anything taken from them is mostly due to the viewers interpretation. Documentaries should have some take away idea or point of  view that they present. They should present their own perspective of something for the viewer to consider or experience, and i don’t believe my own vines do this effectively.

In the class it was interesting to hear what people felt and though about other peoples clips. Though i feel many of the opinions were just that, opinions, rather than people finding the true intent of the creator. I thought of this because many of the interpretations contradicted, so it sounded more like people interpreting a piece of art rather than finding the explicit point of view from a documentary.