Documentary: A Creative Treatment of Actuality

Abstract

This paper examined documentary as a creative treatment of actuality. Documentary films are those which reproduce life in all its manifestations – the life of a man, animals, nature – without the assistance of professional actors or studios and on condition that the film represents a free artistic creation. The direct implication of this is that the documentary must be true if it must have credibility. Documentary uses special channels to convey its information, which makes it different from other forms of programmes. This depicts its power of actuality. Likewise, there are three major stages that are involved in the planning of a documentary: the preproduction, production and post-production. The paper rounds off with a few recommendations and a conclusion.