HOW ‘REAL’ IS DOCUMENTARY?

For me, my initial thought to whether documentary is real is that it is real. A documentary is a documentation of something that has happened or is happening. That's what I see it in my own eyes. I mean of course Mockmentarys have even a small sense of reality to it to make it seem real but do either remain as something of comedic use. There are Fly on the Wall Documentaries like "Benefit Street" that do follow a group of people in an attempt to show others who are outside of that situation the lives that those people live.

(http://debater.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Benefit-Street.jpg)

The main factor in deciding if something is real or not is to look at how its shot, what they are explaining/showing and what purpose they are attempting to achieve. "Benefit Street" for example aims to show the life of a group of people who are currently living on a street that is primarily inhabited  by people on benefits from the Government. The idea ,I think, of this documentary was to show people the lives of those on benefits in an attempt to highlight issues that are normally swept under the rug when it comes to politics and elections. Its an educational thing for everyone that hasn't had the experience of being on benefits or knowing anyone who is. Its a particularly touchy subject that is very controversial in politics of recent years and it caused quite the stir.
"Despite provoking hundreds of complaints and being slammed as “poverty porn”, Benefits Street has been a huge ratings hit for Channel 4 and has got the whole nation talking about an issue that is so thorny, you can end up arguing with yourself about it."
(http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-previews/what-time-benefits-streetbenefits-britain-3155637#ixzz2wy4hDVAa 25th March 2014)



One of my favorite Mocumentarys is a Fly on the Wall comedy "Modern Family". Its one of the most popular shows still running of its type. The comedy behind it is based of what the writers know happens in day to day life for dysfunction but functioning family's.  The way the show is shot is in form of a documentary style like that of the Big Brother show with interviews with the characters. The show does seem to break the forth wall at time with characters directly looking at the camera gives that the sense they are looking to the cameraman.  When you watch a normal Documentary you listen and you watch as a story is told to you about something happening either now,soon or in the past. This is what makes this show so good is that the documentation seems entirely real with the characters but also completely made up but factual at the same time.

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b0/Modern-Familytigtlecard.jpg)

John Grierson was the very first person to "coin" the term Documentary to a factual film or video in a review. When he decided to come up with the name he also wrote "The First Principles Of Documentary" which is a study into how documentaries are documentaries. John Grierson is featured here because of the term he created "Creative Treatment Of Actuality". Its a brilliant statement that means so much in such a short sentance. What he is saying is that no matter how true the things you use are how you document them is of your own creation and thus it can never really be 100% factual.