Television documentary
[1] The widespread evolution of documentary filmmaking led James Chapman to consider its origins as a largely "international process" involving nations such as the United States of America, France, Germany, the Soviet Union and Great Britain.
Duncan Ross and Ramsay Short became early pioneers of the televised documentary format, prominently embedding existing filmmaking techniques within this new broadcasting vehicle.
[7] During the 1950s, prominent commercial broadcasting networks, such as NBC, ABC and CBS, centred their televised documentaries around historical, military, wartime and event-related genres.
Notably, the Kennedy administration believed that televised documentaries could contribute towards the American efforts to constrain the growth of communism.
[12] The current trajectory of television documentary productions is widely suggested to transit towards streaming services such as Netflix and Stan.
[14] Tim Stevenson indicates that brand-sponsored documentaries allow marketers to access widespread audiences through mediums that traditional advertising methods cannot.
[16] Sixteen millimetre film cameras, often positioned on tripods, captured the image, utilising accompanying lighting and filtering equipment.
Particularly prominent equipment utilised throughout the early period of television documentary production included Éclair 16mm film cameras, in conjunction with Nagra sound recorders.
Marshall McLuhan and Buckminster Fuller inspired a revolt against the existing traditional methods of information communication to American society.
This lends particular convenience to the production of the 'slide-show' approach, which shows framed-stills with narrating 'talking heads' – a "constant staple" of television documentary.
[21] Early British television documentaries held a large focus upon historical events, locations and governing states.
Contemporary genres of television documentaries also include sport, health, economic, social media and celebrity subjects.
The continued emergence of television documentary within historical and informative media contexts has engaged significant debate and controversy surrounding its wide-reaching influence.
[26] Such factual discrepancies have led to frequent suggestions that television documentary occasionally deviates from accurate historical representations, rather escalating drama for entertainment purposes.
[28] Later remarks affirmed that the BBC took such an approach with concern for the potentially negative institutional and cultural influence arising from public televised broadcasting of The War Game.
Feldman and Sigelman conducted a study in 1985, analysing the effect of the television docudrama, The Day After, presenting the aftermath that could unfold following a Soviet nuclear attack upon the Kansas City area.
[29] Similarly, another study concluded that several recent social-issue documentaries, including Semper Fi, held "situated knowledge" and thus were influential within the United States in enacting law reform.
[31] The emergence of streaming services into the cultural broadcasting mainstream throughout the 2010s in particular, has also sparked contemporary controversy surrounding the format and classification of televised documentaries.
Notably, the 2020 grand prize for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series was won by ESPN's The Last Dance (2020) which was streamed on Netflix globally.
