Film 3 focuses on not only documentary and drama, but on a combination of the two- a hybrid of both fiction and fact. After watching some documentaries recently and understanding that a documentary is supposedly the use of “pictures or interviews with people involved in real events to provide a factual report on a particular subject”, I have decided that documentaries can indeed blur the lines between drama and non-fiction. The definition above implies that all information given will be factual and therefore the truth. But at what point is the truth no longer the truth when facts are so far exaggerated, that they become distorted for the purpose of entertainment value?
Directors are taking more and more liberties and leeway in creating documentaries now more than ever. Mark Twain is famous for saying “never let the truth stand in the way of a good story.” This I believe, is the mentality of many documentary film-makers.

The celebrated Werner Herzog’s documentary Grizzly Man, is a peculiar case. Not only is this documentary about bear enthusiast Timothy Treadwell living amongst grizzlies but it is also a critique of documentaries. This is as Treadwell was collecting footage himself in the hope of making a nature documentary but was tragically killed by a bear before he could do so. Treadwell clearly had a vision of what his documentary would look like and Herzog had no way of knowing this creative direction. Herzog includes footage of Treadwell ranting and swearing that perhaps he would have cut out. Therefore, Herzog has attempted to provide a more accurate depiction of the bear enthusiast and thus critiques the unfaithful nature of documentaries. Herzog continually dances around the boundaries as we see rather odd set ups that seem staged and rehearsed. He keeps the camera rolling as his participants hang awkwardly, as if they’ve finished their lines and are waiting for the director to call cut.

Perhaps the struggles documentary makers face can be likened to that of journalists. Journalists are often confronted with the moral obligation to present facts clearly and plainly relay the news to the public. However we still see stories spun one way or the other actively persuading their audience. We often see opinion pieces and editorials etc that are designed to sway/convince their audience. Some even employ language tactics that aim to work on their audience’s subconscious.

Perhaps a documentary has more credibility if it poses a question, gives facts and yet provides no definitive answer. In this way it allows the viewer to form opinions of their own without their judgement being clouded by a possibly biased attitude. However this is hardly satisfying for the audience as they crave the closure that drama often provides. Perhaps this is the reason documentary film makers are being driven towards drama. Directors could be orchestrating drama oriented docos to give an answer/ending that a demanding audience craves. One cant help but think that they’re deliberately feeding the dramatically glutenous audience what they hungers for. Is this where it ends for documentaries… or begins?