An authored documentary is a documentary that presents the subjective view of its author on the topic of the documentary. In sharp contrast to observational documentaries, which are supposed to be unbiased, authored documentaries are intended to present a definite point of view. They tend to be popular with audiences favoring the positions they advocate, because of their ability to mobilize popular opinion and interest. For the same reason, they tend to stimulate public controversy. At an extreme, authored documentaries may take the form of "hybrid" documentaries that incorporate techniques used in fiction.
History
The authored documentary form was invented by
Michael Gill and
Adrian Malone.
Examples
Authored documentaries include both
feature films and
television series. Authored documentaries originally made as feature films are often eventually presented on television; as films, they are generally exempt from the constraints on bias that are normally imposed on television programs.
Film
Among the best-known examples of the genre are ''
An Inconvenient Truth'', directed by
Davis Guggenheim, and ''
Super Size Me'', directed by
Morgan Spurlock.
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism.
Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ' ...
is also well known for his authored documentary films, including ''
Bowling for Columbine'', ''
Capitalism: A Love Story'', ''
Fahrenheit 9/11
''Fahrenheit 9/11'' is a 2004 American documentary film directed, written by, and starring filmmaker, director, political commentator and activist Michael Moore. The film takes a liberal, critical look at the presidency of George W. Bush, the w ...
'', and ''
Sicko''.
Television
The format, expanding upon the presenter/author's thesis over a number of episodes was popularized with
Kenneth Clark's landmark BBC 2 series
Civilisation. The success of this series led to other authored documentaries being produced, including
The Ascent of Man,
Jacob Bronowski's partial refutation of Kenneth Clark's thesis that the major driving force of cultural evolution was the arts, not the sciences. The genre also includes documentary series like
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...
's
Life on Earth Life on Earth may refer to:
Science
* Life
* Earliest known life forms
* Evolutionary history of life
** Abiogenesis
Film and television
* ''Life on Earth'' (film) (''La Vie Sur Terre''), a 1998 Malian film
* ''Life on Earth'' (TV series), a 197 ...
,
Carl Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ext ...
's
Cosmos, and
Simon Schama's
A History of Britain.
Academic analysis
The notion of authorship for a documentary is in tension with the pressures of modern corporate radio, television, and film production, which tend toward consolidation of all claims of authorship in the corporate producer entity. In December 2009, the online media arts and culture journal ''Scan'' published a theme issue of articles on the topic of this tension.
Awards and honors
In his will,
Alan Whicker established cash awards to encourage the making of authored documentaries in the UK.
References
External links
British Film Institute's pageon authored documentaries
* Whicker's World Foundatio
Awards page(includes £80,000 award for best pitch for an authored documentary)
Documentary television series
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