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Fly on the wall is a style of documentary-making used in
Fly on the wall is a style of documentary-making used in film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...
and television production
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...
. The name derived from the idea that events are seen candidly, as a fly
Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...
on a wall might see them. In the purest form of fly-on-the-wall documentary-making, the camera crew works as unobtrusively as possible; however, it is also common for participants to be interviewed, often by an off-camera voice.
Decades before structured reality shows became popular, the BBC had broadcast fly-on-the-wall film ''Royal Family
A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term pa ...
'' (a 1969 documentary produced in association with ITV), while 1974's '' The Family'', is said to be the earliest example of a reality TV docusoap on the BBC. In the late 1990s, Chris Terrill's docusoap series '' The Cruise'' made a star of singer and TV personality Jane McDonald
Jane Anne McDonald (born 4 April 1963) is an English singer, songwriter and television presenter. Born and raised in Wakefield, McDonald spent much of her early career performing in local clubs and pubs before landing work as a singer on cr ...
, while Welsh cleaner Maureen Rees became popular after her appearances on BBC One's ''Driving School
''Driving School'' is a docusoap that was broadcast on BBC1 in the summer of 1997, which followed a group of learner drivers around Bristol and South Wales. The series was made on a reduced budget but shown in primetime, it created one of the ...
''.
Other British examples include '' Dynamo: Magician Impossible and Channel 4's '' '' Educating...'' series, while in the United States popular examples include ''American Factory
''American Factory'' () is a 2019 American documentary film directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, about Chinese company Fuyao's factory in Moraine, a city near Dayton, Ohio, that occupies Moraine Assembly, a shuttered General Motors pl ...
, Cops'', ''Deadliest Catch
''Deadliest Catch'' is a Reality television, reality television series that premiered on the Discovery Channel on April 12, 2005. The show follows Crab fisheries, crab fishermen aboard fishing vessels in the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab ...
'', '' Big Brother'' and ''Weiner
Weiner is a surname or, in fact, the spelling of two different surnames originating in German and the closely related Yiddish language. In German, the name is pronounced , of which the rare English pronunciation is a close approximation.http ...
'', a film about a political sex scandal which developed during a mayoral election in New York.
The format has also been spoofed, notably in 2001 BBC comedy ''The Office
''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries.
The original ser ...
'', based at a paper merchant in Slough
Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the ...
.
See also
*Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité (, , ; "truthful cinema") is a style of documentary filmmaking developed by Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch, inspired by Dziga Vertov's theory about Kino-Pravda. It combines improvisation with use of the camera to unveil truth or ...
* Direct cinema
* Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1 ...
* Television documentary
Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries.
Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film.
*Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...
References
Documentary film styles {{Film-term-stub