Documentary film originally was used to describe movies shot on film stock. However, throughout history documentary has developed into a varied category of visual creativity. Today, documentaries are seen as films that, in simple words make an attempt to document reality. The following are some documentary practitioners whom I feel have informative theories on documentary film making.

Cinema Verite and Direct Cinema:

Cinema Verite: Cinema Verite or “truthful cinema” is a style of documentary film making that has a emphasis on combining naturalistic techniques with stylised cinematic devices such as the camera work and editing techniques. Often to provoke subjects staged set-ups and the use of camera are used. Direct cinema is similar to this but also different. The subjects are unaware of the camera which allows the documentary to fall into the observational mode whereas with Cinema Verite there are interactions between the filmmaker and the subjects. 

 John Grierson has often been referred to as the father of British and Canadian documentary film. According to myth he even coined the word ‘documentary’ back in the 1920s. His theories on documentary film making often suggests that the observation of the real world can be exploited in a new and creative art form.  He believed that documentary film should be reported as a news story and that it should use beauty to depict the truth and reality. Grierson’s theories state that he had no tolerance for artistic pretention; everything in documentary film needs to portray the truth but be portrayed in a creative way.

 Bill Nichols is an American documentary film practitioner, who came up with the different modes of documentary; Poetic, expository, participatory, reflective, performative, and political reflectivity. He believes that documentary film is used to show issues in culture and society that are in need of attention. He states that there is a link between documentary and the historical world and that this is a very strong link and that its one of the most distinctive features when looking into documentary film. Nichols also believes that good documentary should stimulate conversation about its topic rather than itself. This futher enhances the idea of documentary teaching us something. Unlike a drama film, we would not review a documentary about that literal film but about what the film shows us. This is the theory that Bill Nichols mentions in his work.

 Micheal Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social activist, and critic. He directed the highest grossing documentary of all time; Fahrenheit 9/11. His other famous works include Bowling for columbine and Sicko which are also placed in the top ten highest grossing documentaries. Moore’s films deal with a lot of American political issues such as the presidential elections, 9/11, the Iraq war and capitalism. He is well known for his documentaries being in the participatory mode as he becomes a character in his films rather than just staying behind the camera. He is both critisied and priased for his work as he shows a controversial side to America. the corruption of the American government is not somethign that the media portrays which is why Moore depicts it in his films. He is a good example of how documentary can affect and impact society. Documentary film does not need to entertain it should educate but that should not limit it to facts and figures but also opinions and theories.