Editing Documentary film (section)

== History ==

=== Pre-1900 ===
Early film (pre-1900) was dominated by the novelty of showing an event. Single-shot moments were captured on film, such as a train entering a station, a boat docking, or factory workers leaving work. These short films were called "actuality" films; the term "documentary" was not coined until 1926. Many of the first films, such as those made by [[Auguste and Louis Lumière]], were a minute or less in length, due to technological limitations. Examples can be viewed on YouTube.

Films showing many people (for example, leaving a factory) were often made for commercial reasons: the people being filmed were eager to see, for payment, the film showing them. One notable film clocked in at over an hour and a half, ''[[The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight]]''. Using pioneering film-looping technology, [[Enoch J. Rector]] presented the entirety of a famous 1897 prize-fight on cinema screens across the United States.

In May 1896, [[Bolesław Matuszewski]] recorded on film a few surgical operations in [[Warsaw]] and [[Saint Petersburg]] hospitals. In 1898, French surgeon [[Eugène-Louis Doyen]] invited Matuszewski and [[Clément Maurice]] to record his surgical operations. They started in Paris a series of surgical films sometime before July 1898.<ref>Charles Ford, Robert Hammond: Polish Film: A Twentieth Century History. McFarland, 2005. {{ISBN|9781476608037}}, p.10.</ref> Until 1906, the year of his last film, Doyen recorded more than 60 operations. Doyen said that his first films taught him how to correct professional errors he had been unaware of. For scientific purposes, after 1906, Doyen combined 15 of his films into three compilations, two of which survive, the six-film series ''Extirpation des tumeurs encapsulées'' (1906), and the four-film ''Les Opérations sur la cavité crânienne'' (1911). These and five other of Doyen's films survive.<ref>{{cite journal|title = "Il faut voir le maître": A Recent Restoration of Surgical Films by E.-L. Doyen, 1859–1916|last = Baptista|first = Tiago|journal = Journal of Film Preservation|issue = 70|date = November 2005}}</ref>

[[File:Gheorghe Marinescu - Science films.jpg|thumb|right|Frame from one of [[Gheorghe Marinescu]]'s science films (1899)]]
Between July 1898 and 1901, the Romanian professor [[Gheorghe Marinescu]] made several science films in his [[neurology]] clinic in [[Bucharest]]:<ref name="marin1">[[Mircea Dumitrescu]], ''O privire critică asupra filmului românesc'', [[Brașov]], 2005, {{ISBN|978-973-9153-93-5}}</ref> ''[[Walking Troubles of Organic Hemiplegy]]'' (1898), ''The Walking Troubles of Organic Paraplegies'' (1899), ''A Case of Hysteric Hemiplegy Healed Through Hypnosis'' (1899), ''The Walking Troubles of Progressive Locomotion Ataxy'' (1900), and ''Illnesses of the Muscles'' (1901). All these short films have been preserved. The professor called his works "studies with the help of the cinematograph," and published the results, along with several consecutive frames, in issues of ''La Semaine Médicale'' magazine from Paris, between 1899 and 1902.<ref name="marin2">Rîpeanu, Bujor T. ''Filmul documentar 1897–1948'', Bucharest, 2008, {{ISBN|978-973-7839-40-4}}</ref> In 1924, Auguste Lumière recognized the merits of Marinescu's science films: "I've seen your scientific reports about the usage of the cinematograph in studies of nervous illnesses, when I was still receiving ''La Semaine Médicale'', but back then I had other concerns, which left me no spare time to begin biological studies. I must say I forgot those works and I am thankful to you that you reminded them to me. Unfortunately, not many scientists have followed your way."<ref name="marin3">Ţuţui, Marian, ''[http://www.cncinema.abt.ro/Files/Documents/fls-258.doc A short history of the Romanian films]'' at the Romanian National Cinematographic Center. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411014620/http://www.cncinema.abt.ro/Files/Documents/fls-258.doc |date=11 April 2008 }}</ref><ref name="marinescupathe">{{Cite web |date=1967 |title=The Works of Gheorghe Marinescu |url=http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=71342 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525185831/http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=71342 |archive-date=May 25, 2010 |website=British Pathe}}</ref><ref name="marinescuanf">[http://www.cncinema.abt.ro/Files/Movies/fls-271.avi Excerpts of prof. dr. Marinescu's science films]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226113120/http://www.cncinema.abt.ro/Files/Movies/fls-271.avi |date=26 February 2015 }}</ref>

=== 1900–1920 ===
[[File:George malins z aeroskopem St Eloi.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Geoffrey Malins]] with an [[aeroscope]] camera during World War I]]
[[Travelogue (films)|Travelogue films]] were very popular in the early part of the 20th century. They were often referred to by distributors as "scenics". Scenics were among the most popular sort of films at the time.<ref>[[Miriam Hansen]], ''Babel and Babylon: Spectatorship in American Silent Film'', 2005.</ref> An important early film which moved beyond the concept of the scenic was ''[[In the Land of the Head Hunters]]'' (1914), which embraced [[primitivism]] and [[exoticism]] in a staged story presented as truthful re-enactments of the life of [[First Nations in Canada|Native Americans]].

Contemplation is a separate area.{{Explain|date=March 2023}} [[Pathé]] was the best-known global manufacturer of such films in the early 20th century. A vivid example is ''[[Moscow Clad in Snow]]'' (1909).

Biographical documentaries appeared during this time, such as the feature ''[[Eminescu-Veronica-Creangă]]'' (1914) on the relationship between the writers [[Mihai Eminescu]], [[Veronica Micle]] and [[Ion Creangă]] (all deceased at the time of the production), released by the [[Bucharest]] chapter of [[Pathé]].

Early color motion picture processes such as [[Kinemacolor]] (known for the feature ''[[With Our King and Queen Through India]]'' (1912)) and [[Prizma]] Color (known for ''Everywhere With Prizma'' (1919) and the five-reel feature ''Bali the Unknown'' (1921)) used travelogues to promote the new color processes. In contrast, [[Technicolor]] concentrated primarily on getting their process adopted by Hollywood studios for fiction feature films.

Also during this period, [[Frank Hurley]]'s feature documentary film, ''South'' (1919) about the [[Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition]] was released. The film documented the failed Antarctic expedition led by [[Ernest Shackleton]] in 1914.

=== 1920s ===

==== Romanticism ====
[[File:Nanook of the north.jpg|thumb|''[[Nanook of the North]]'' poster]]
With [[Robert J. Flaherty]]'s ''[[Nanook of the North]]'' in 1922, documentary film embraced [[romanticism]]. Flaherty filmed a number of heavily staged romantic documentary films during this time period, often showing how his subjects would have lived 100 years earlier and not how they lived right then. For instance, in ''Nanook of the North'', Flaherty did not allow his subjects to shoot a walrus with a nearby shotgun, but had them use a harpoon instead. Some of Flaherty's staging, such as building a roofless [[igloo]] for interior shots, was done to accommodate the filming technology of the time.

[[Paramount Pictures]] tried to repeat the success of Flaherty's ''Nanook'' and ''Moana'' with two romanticized documentaries, ''[[Grass (1925 film)|Grass]]'' (1925) and ''[[Chang (film)|Chang]]'' (1927), both directed by [[Merian C. Cooper]] and [[Ernest Schoedsack]].

==== City symphony ====

{{Main|City symphony}}
The "''[[city symphony]]''" sub [[film genre]] consisted of [[avant-garde films]] during the 1920s and 1930s. These films were particularly influenced by [[modern art]], namely [[Cubism]], [[Constructivism (art)|Constructivism]], and [[Impressionism]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title = A History of Experimental Film and Video|last = Rees|first = A.L.|publisher = Palgrave Macmillan|year = 2011|isbn = 978-1-84457-436-0|edition = 2nd}}</ref> According to [[art historian]] and author [[Scott MacDonald (media scholar)|Scott MacDonald]],<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Avant-Doc: Eight Intersections.|journal=Film Quarterly|volume=64|issue=2|pages=50–57|last=MacDonald|first=Scott|author-link=Scott MacDonald (media scholar)|date=2010|language=en|jstor=10.1525/fq.2010.64.2.50|doi=10.1525/fq.2010.64.2.50}}</ref> city symphony films can be described as, "An intersection between documentary and avant-garde film: an ''avant-doc''"; however, A.L. Rees suggests regarding them as avant-garde films.<ref name=":0" />

Early titles produced within this genre include: ''[[Manhatta]]'' (New York; dir. [[Paul Strand]], 1921); ''[[Rien que les heures]]/Nothing But The Hours'' ([[French films|France]]; dir. [[Alberto Cavalcanti]], 1926); ''Twenty Four Dollar Island'' (dir. [[Robert J. Flaherty]], 1927); ''Moscow'' (dir. [[Mikhail Kaufman]], 1927); ''[[Études sur Paris]]'' (dir. [[André Sauvage]], 1928); ''[[De brug|The Bridge]]'' (1928) and ''[[Rain (1929 film)|Rain]]'' (1929), both by [[Joris Ivens]]; ''[[São Paulo, Sinfonia da Metrópole]]'' (dir. [[Adalberto Kemeny]], 1929), ''[[Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis]]'' (dir. [[Walter Ruttmann]], 1927); ''[[Man with a Movie Camera]]'' (dir. [[Dziga Vertov]], 1929); ''[[Douro, Faina Fluvial]]'' (dir. [[Manoel de Oliveira]], 1931); and ''[[Rhapsody in Two Languages]]'' (dir. [[Gordon Sparling]], 1934).

A city symphony film, as the name suggests, is most often based around a major [[metropolis|metropolitan city]] area and seeks to capture the life, events and activities of the city. It can use [[Abstract expressionism|abstract]] cinematography (Walter Ruttman's ''Berlin'') or may use [[Soviet montage theory]] (Dziga Vertov's, ''Man with a Movie Camera'').  Most importantly, a city symphony film is a form of [[cinepoetry]], shot and edited in the style of a "[[symphony]]".

[[File:Mikhail kaufman on train.jpg|thumb|In this shot from ''[[Man with a Movie Camera]]'', [[Mikhail Kaufman]] acts as a cameraman risking his life in search of the best shot.]]

The European continental tradition (''See:'' [[Realism (theatre)|Realism]]) focused on humans within human-made environments, and included the so-called city symphony films such as Walter Ruttmann's, ''Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis'' (of which [[John Grierson|Grierson]] noted in an article<ref>Grierson, John. 'First Principles of Documentary', in Kevin Macdonald & Mark Cousins (eds.) Imagining Reality: The Faber Book of Documentary. London: Faber and Faber, 1996</ref> that ''Berlin,'' represented what a documentary should not be); Alberto Cavalcanti's, ''Rien que les heures;'' and Dziga Vertov's ''Man with a Movie Camera''. These films tend to feature people as products of their environment, and lean towards the avant-garde.

==== ''Kino-Pravda'' ====
[[Dziga Vertov]] was central to the Soviet ''[[Kino-Pravda]]'' (literally, "cinematic truth") newsreel series of the 1920s. Vertov believed the camera{{snd}}with its varied lenses, shot-counter shot editing, time-lapse, ability to slow motion, stop motion and fast-motion{{snd}}could render reality more accurately than the human eye, and created a film philosophy from it.

==== Newsreel tradition ====
The [[newsreel]] tradition is important in documentary film. Newsreels at this time were sometimes staged but were usually re-enactments of events that had already happened, not attempts to steer events as they were in the process of happening. For instance, much of the battle footage from the early 20th century was staged; the cameramen would usually arrive on site after a major battle and re-enact scenes to film them.

=== 1930s–1940s ===
The propagandist tradition consists of films made with the explicit purpose of persuading an audience of a point. One of the most celebrated and controversial [[propaganda film]]s is [[Leni Riefenstahl]]'s film ''[[Triumph of the Will]]'' (1935), which chronicled the 1934 [[Nuremberg Rally|Nazi Party Congress]] and was commissioned by [[Adolf Hitler]]. Leftist filmmakers [[Joris Ivens]] and [[Henri Storck]] directed ''[[Misère au Borinage|Borinage]]'' (1931) about the Belgian coal mining region. [[Luis Buñuel]] directed a "[[surrealism|surrealist]]" documentary ''[[Land Without Bread|Las Hurdes]]'' (1933).

[[Pare Lorentz]]'s ''[[The Plow That Broke the Plains]]'' (1936) and ''[[The River (1938 film)|The River]]'' (1938) and [[Willard Van Dyke]]'s ''[[The City (1939 film)|The City]]'' (1939) are notable [[New Deal]] productions, each presenting complex combinations of social and ecological awareness, government propaganda, and leftist viewpoints. [[Frank Capra]]'s ''[[Why We Fight]]'' (1942–1944) series was a newsreel series in the United States, commissioned by the government to convince the U.S. public that it was time to go to war. [[Constance Bennett]] and her husband [[Henri de la Falaise]] produced two feature-length documentaries, ''[[Legong: Dance of the Virgins]]'' (1935) filmed in [[Bali]], and ''Kilou the Killer Tiger'' (1936) filmed in [[Indochina]].

In Canada, the [[National Film Board of Canada|Film Board]], set up by John Grierson, was set up for the same propaganda reasons. It also created newsreels that were seen by their national governments as legitimate counter-propaganda to the psychological warfare of [[Nazi]] Germany orchestrated by [[Joseph Goebbels]].

[[File:Basil Wright, Joris Ivens, Elmar Klos i Jerzy Toeplitz - Film nr 55-56 - 1948-12-23.JPG|thumb|Conference of "World Union of documentary films" in 1948 Warsaw featured famous directors of the era: [[Basil Wright]] (on the left), [[Elmar Klos]], [[Joris Ivens]] (2nd from the right), and [[Jerzy Toeplitz]].]]
In Britain, a number of different filmmakers came together under John Grierson. They became known as the [[Documentary Film Movement]]. Grierson, [[Alberto Cavalcanti]], [[Harry Watt (director)|Harry Watt]], [[Basil Wright]], and [[Humphrey Jennings]] amongst others succeeded in blending propaganda, information, and education with a more poetic aesthetic approach to documentary. Examples of their work include ''Drifters'' (John Grierson), ''[[Song of Ceylon]]'' (Basil Wright), ''[[Fires Were Started]]'', and ''[[A Diary for Timothy]]'' (Humphrey Jennings). Their work involved poets such as [[W. H. Auden]], composers such as [[Benjamin Britten]], and writers such as [[J. B. Priestley]]. Among the best known films of the movement are ''[[Night Mail]]'' and ''[[Coal Face]]''.

''Calling Mr. Smith'' (1943) is an anti-Nazi color film<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lux.org.uk/work/calling-mr-smith1|title=Calling Mr. Smith – LUX|website=lux.org.uk|access-date=25 April 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180425234317/https://lux.org.uk/work/calling-mr-smith1|archive-date=25 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.centrepompidou.fr/cpv/resource/cAXbMp/rqGRLe9|title=Calling Mr Smith – Centre Pompidou|website=centrepompidou.fr|access-date=25 April 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180131024033/https://www.centrepompidou.fr/cpv/resource/cAXbMp/rqGRLe9|archive-date=31 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://artincinema.com/franciszka-and-stefan-themerson-calling-mr-smith-1943/|title=Franciszka and Stefan Themerson: Calling Mr. Smith (1943) – artincinema|date=21 June 2015|website=artincinema.com|access-date=25 April 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180131024247/http://artincinema.com/franciszka-and-stefan-themerson-calling-mr-smith-1943/|archive-date=31 January 2018}}</ref> created by [[Stefan Themerson]] which is both a documentary and an avant-garde film against war. It was one of the first anti-Nazi films in history.{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}

=== 1950s–1970s ===
[[File:Lennart Meri kodus oma töökabinetis 02.jpg|thumb|[[Lennart Meri]] (1929–2006), the second [[President of the Republic of Estonia]], directed documentaries several years before his presidency. His film ''[[The Winds of the Milky Way]]'' won a silver medal at the [[New York Film Festival]] in 1977.<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/07/world/estonia-s-president-un-soviet-and-unconventional.html| title = Estonia's President: Un-Soviet and Unconventional – The New York Times | newspaper = The New York Times| date = 7 April 2001| last1 = McNeil | first1 = Donald G. Jr.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://news.err.ee/117821/ten-years-since-the-passing-of-estonia-s-second-president-lennart-meri | title = Ten years since the passing of Estonia's second president, Lennart Meri – ERR| date = 14 March 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/14876/| title = 'True European' Lennart Meri passes away |work = The Baltic Times|date = 15 March 2006}}</ref>]]

==== Cinéma-vérité ====
[[Cinéma vérité]] (or the closely related [[Direct Cinema|direct cinema]]) was dependent on some technical advances to exist: light, quiet and reliable cameras, and portable sync sound.

Cinéma vérité and similar documentary traditions can thus be seen, in a broader perspective, as a reaction against studio-based film production constraints. Shooting on location, with smaller crews, would also happen in the [[French New Wave]], the filmmakers taking advantage of advances in technology allowing smaller, handheld cameras and synchronized sound to film events on location as they unfolded.

Although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, there are important differences between cinéma vérité ([[Jean Rouch]]) and the North American "[[Direct Cinema|direct cinema]]", pioneered by, among others, Canadians [[Michel Brault]], [[Pierre Perrault]] and [[Allan King]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pevere |first=Geoff |date=27 April 2007 |title=Celebrating Allan King's video-era vérité |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/2007/04/27/celebrating_allan_kings_videoera_veacuteriteacute.html |access-date=21 February 2022 |work=The Toronto Star |language=en-CA |issn=0319-0781}}</ref> and Americans [[Robert Drew]], [[Richard Leacock]], [[Frederick Wiseman]] and [[Albert and David Maysles]].

The directors of the movement take different viewpoints on their degree of involvement with their subjects. Kopple and Pennebaker, for instance, choose non-involvement (or at least no overt involvement), and Perrault, Rouch, Koenig, and Kroitor favor direct involvement or even provocation when they deem it necessary.

The films ''[[Chronicle of a Summer]]'' ([[Jean Rouch]]), ''[[Dont Look Back]]'' ([[D. A. Pennebaker]]), ''[[Grey Gardens]]'' ([[Albert and David Maysles]]), ''[[Titicut Follies]]'' ([[Frederick Wiseman]]), ''[[Primary (film)|Primary]]'' and ''[[Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment]]'' (both produced by [[Robert Drew]]), ''[[Harlan County, USA]]'' (directed by [[Barbara Kopple]]), ''[[Lonely Boy (film)|Lonely Boy]]'' ([[Wolf Koenig]] and [[Roman Kroitor]]) are all frequently deemed [[cinéma vérité]] films.

The fundamentals of the style include following a person during a crisis with a moving, often handheld, camera to capture more personal reactions. There are no sit-down interviews, and the [[shooting ratio]] (the amount of film shot to the finished product) is very high, often reaching 80 to one. From there, editors find and sculpt the work into a film. The editors of the movement{{snd}}such as [[Werner Nold]], [[Charlotte Zwerin]], [[Muffie Meyer]], [[Susan Froemke]], and [[Ellen Hovde]]{{snd}}are often overlooked, but their input to the films was so vital that they were often given co-director credits.

Famous cinéma vérité/direct cinema films include ''[[Les Raquetteurs]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url = http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/en/our-collection/?idfilm=54008 |title = Les raquetteurs |website =National Film Board of Canada|date = 15 August 2017}}</ref> ''Showman'', ''[[Salesman (1969 film)|Salesman]]'', ''Near Death'', and ''The Children Were Watching''.

==== Political weapons ====
In the 1960s and 1970s, documentary film was often regarded as a political weapon against [[neocolonialism]] and [[capitalism]] in general, especially in Latin America, but also in a changing society. {{Lang|es|La Hora de los hornos}} (''[[The Hour of the Furnaces]]'', from 1968), directed by [[Octavio Getino]] and [[Fernando Solanas]], influenced a whole generation of filmmakers. Among the many political documentaries produced in the early 1970s was "Chile: A Special Report", public television's first in-depth expository look at the September 1973 overthrow of the [[Salvador Allende]] government in Chile by military leaders under [[Augusto Pinochet]], produced by documentarians Ari Martinez and José Garcia.

A June 2020 article in ''[[The New York Times]]'' reviewed the political documentary ''And She Could Be Next'', directed by Grace Lee and Marjan Safinia. The ''Times'' described the documentary not only as focusing on women in politics, but more specifically on women of color, their communities, and the significant changes they have wrought upon America.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/28/arts/television/and-she-could-be-next-pbs.html|title=In 'And She Could Be Next,' Women of Color Take on Politics|access-date=28 June 2020|website=The New York Times|date=28 June 2020|last1=Phillips|first1=Maya}}</ref>

=== Modern documentaries ===
Box office analysts have noted that the documentary film genre has become increasingly successful in theatrical release with films such as ''[[Fahrenheit 9/11]]'', ''[[Super Size Me]]'', ''[[Food, Inc.]]'', ''[[Earth (2009 film)|Earth]]'', ''[[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.

The nature of documentary films has expanded in the past 30 years from the cinéma vérité 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 [[Marlon Riggs]]'s ''Tongues Untied'' (1989) and ''Black Is...Black Ain't'' (1995), which mix expressive, poetic, and rhetorical elements and stresses subjectivities rather than historical materials.<ref>Struggles for Representation African American Documentary Film and Video, edited by Phyllis R. Klotman and Janet K. Cutler,</ref>

Historical documentaries, such as the landmark 14-hour ''[[Eyes on the Prize]]: America's Civil Rights Years'' (1986{{snd}}Part 1 and 1989{{snd}}Part 2) by Henry Hampton, ''[[4 Little Girls]]'' (1997) by [[Spike Lee]], ''[[The Civil War (TV series)|The Civil War]]'' by [[Ken Burns]], and UNESCO-awarded independent film on slavery ''[[500 Years Later]]'', express not only a distinctive voice but also a perspective and point of views. Some films such as ''[[The Thin Blue Line (1988 film)|The Thin Blue Line]]'' by [[Errol Morris]] incorporate stylized re-enactments, and [[Michael Moore]]'s ''[[Roger & Me]]'' place far more interpretive control with the director. The commercial success of these documentaries may derive from this narrative shift in the documentary form, leading some critics to question whether such films can truly be called documentaries; critics sometimes refer to these works as "[[mondo films]]" or "docu-ganda."<ref name="csm">{{cite news
 |first       = Daniel B.
 |last        = Wood
 |url         = http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0602/p01s02-ussc.html
 |title       = In 'docu-ganda' films, balance is not the objective
 |newspaper   =[[The Christian Science Monitor]]
 |date        = 2 June 2006
|access-date  = 6 June 2006
|url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20060612211916/http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0602/p01s02-ussc.html
 |archive-date = 12 June 2006
}}</ref> However, directorial manipulation of documentary subjects has been noted since the work of Flaherty, and may be endemic to the form due to problematic ontological foundations.

Documentary filmmakers are increasingly using social impact campaigns with their films.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2015/biz/news/afi-docs-fueling-social-change-1201524000/|title=AFI Docs: Filmmakers Get Savvier About Fueling Social Change|last=Johnson|first=Ted|date=19 June 2015|website=Variety|language=en-US|access-date=23 June 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604032728/http://variety.com/2015/biz/news/afi-docs-fueling-social-change-1201524000/|archive-date=4 June 2016}}</ref> Social impact campaigns seek to leverage media projects by converting public awareness of social issues and causes into engagement and action, largely by offering the audience a way to get involved.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.azuremedia.org/azuremedia.org/social_impact_campaigns.html|title=social impact campaigns|website=Azure Media |access-date=23 June 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331001043/http://www.azuremedia.org/azuremedia.org/social_impact_campaigns.html|archive-date=31 March 2016}}</ref> Examples of such documentaries include ''[[Kony 2012]]'', ''[[Salam Neighbor]], [[Gasland]]'', ''[[Living on One Dollar]]'', and ''[[Girl Rising]]''.

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.<ref>{{cite web |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070519040840/http://www.indiewire.com/ots/fes_01Sund_010208_Docs.html |archive-date=May 19, 2007 |url=http://www.indiewire.com/ots/fes_01Sund_010208_Docs.html |website=IndieWire |title=Festivals: Post-Sundance 2001; Docs Still Face Financing and Distribution Challenges |date=8 February 2001 |first1=Sarah |last1=Keenlyside }}</ref>

Modern documentaries have some overlap with television forms, with the development of "reality television" that occasionally verges on the documentary but more often veers to the fictional or staged. The "making-of" documentary shows how a movie or a [[video game|computer game]] was produced. Usually made for promotional purposes, it is closer to an advertisement than a classic documentary.

Modern lightweight digital video cameras and computer-based editing have greatly aided documentary makers, as has the dramatic drop in equipment prices. The first film to take full advantage of this change was [[Martin Kunert]] and [[Eric Manes]]' ''[[Voices of Iraq]]'', where 150 DV cameras were sent to Iraq during the war and passed out to Iraqis to record themselves.

==== Documentaries without words ====
Films in the documentary form without words have been made. ''[[Listen to Britain]]'', directed by Humphrey Jennings and Stuart McAllister in 1942, is a wordless meditation on wartime Britain. From 1982, the [[Qatsi trilogy]] and the similar ''[[Baraka (film)|Baraka]]'' could be described as visual tone poems, with music related to the images, but no spoken content. ''[[Koyaanisqatsi]]'' (part of the [[Qatsi trilogy]]) consists primarily of [[slow motion]] and [[time-lapse photography]] of cities and many natural landscapes across the United States. ''Baraka'' tries to capture the great pulse of humanity as it flocks and swarms in daily activity and religious ceremonies.

''[[Bodysong]]'' was made in 2003 and won a British Independent Film Award for "Best British Documentary."

The 2004 film ''[[Genesis (2004 film)|Genesis]]'' shows animal and plant life in states of expansion, decay, sex, and death, with some, but little, narration.

==== Narration styles ====
; Voice-over narrator
The traditional style for [[Voice-over|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 [[intertitle|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.