Television documentary

Documentary television is a genre of television programming that broadcasts documentaries.

  • A documentary television series, sometimes called a docuseries, is a television series that is presented in a number of episodes.
  • A documentary television film is a documentary film made especially for television stations or for specialty documentary channels, or in case of political and historical documentary subjects in news channels, without the intention of showing it in movie theaters. This film is included in television movies and distinguished with theatrical feature films. Another good example of television documentaries is the travel documentaries that are featured in specialized geographical or tourism television channels like the National Geographic Channel. The films might end up showing in film societies or in theaters that specialize in showing documentaries. However, on rare occasions, television documentaries become so popular that they are launched for wider release in movie theaters.

History of television documentary and production techniques

Televised documentary finds its roots in film, photojournalism, and radio. Traditionally, much of television documentary production was done using 16mm film cameras with quarter-inch tape recorders providing sync sound. The small and agile nature of 16mm film crews made them ideal for shooting documentaries in hostile environments as events were unfolding. Before portable video recorders became commonplace in the industry, 16mm film cameras were the only method of production that did not require significant technological infrastructure. Using just an Arriflex or Eclair 16mm camera, a Nagra tape recorder, and a basic lighting rig these crews created some of the most significant documentaries produced in Britain. This way of working continued until the late 1980s when portable video recorders started to be implemented in documentary production.[1]

Example channels

See also
  • Walter Goodman (TV Critic)

References
  1. Ellis, John; Hall, Nick (2017): ADAPT. figshare. Collection.https://doi.org/10.17637/rh.c.3925603.v1


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