John Grierson: First principles of documentary

Quotes!

• Documentaries are "the creative view of actuality."
• "However it be shot through vigour of lawrencian poetry, it must always fail to develop a form adequate to the more immediate material of the modern world." - basically no matter how a documentary is filmed, it must always show information of the modern world, or time in which the documentary was made. (or based on, like if it's a documentary on Vikings, it's got to show "immediate information" of the Vikings)
• "they describe, and even expose, but, in any aesthetic sense, only rarely reveal.
• Documentaries use "Natural material," nothing like "fake backgrounds," but they rely more on the natural aesthetic of life.

Bill Nichols: Introduction to Documentary

Quotes!

• "Documentaries are about real people who do not play or perform their roles."
• "Documentaries tell us how things change and who produces these changes."

David Bordwell: Narrative as a formal System

Quotes!

• Narrative forms is most common in fictional films, but it can appear in all other basic types. For instance, Documentaries often employ a narrative form.
• Narrative is the way humans make sense of the world.
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