I found this reading kind of interesting because I never really gave much though to documentaries. I honestly thought they were all the same; find a topic you want to document, create it, and that’s all there is to it. But there is so much more, and the fact that there are genres of documentaries astounds me because it’s something I’ve never considered before. The fact that this reading talks about six different forms of documentaries astounds me, because honestly they all seem the same. But even though the reading does try to differentiate between genres, I couldn’t help but think they’re basically all the same. True, they have different styles and feels, but eventually a documentary is, in my mind, no different then any other. Still, I can understand the classifications enough; documentaries are just something I am so unfamiliar with that I would never think that they involve so much more.
As I was reading the selection, I did start to think about the nature of a documentary, and how they’re used in media nowadays. Most horror films that I’ve seen (which is not many because I dislike the horror genre and being scared in general) have always been shown in the “found footage” format, where most of the action is derived from the main character’s camera. These feel like documentaries because of this format, but they are clearly not. The media has also grown into television as well, with many television shows adopting the “documentary” format such as “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation”. While it wasn’t the aim of the reading, the selection really opened my mind to how much the documentary style has invaded the film and television mediums, and influenced some of the most well known shows and movies of our time. To show an example of how documentaries have influenced other mediums, here is a clip from “Parks and Recreation” because I just love this show so much.
You can see how the documentary format has influenced the make up of the show: the camera is constantly moving as if it is filmed by a documentary crew always on the go, characters have monologues commenting on what’s going on so they are aware of their audience, and they will even acknowledge the camera at times, so they know the cameras are there.
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