10Documentary and its Hybrid Forms

In this chapter we look at the concept of realism and its particular significance to the genre of documentary. We consider:

  • the accuracy of the representation
  • different types of realism
  • continuity editing
  • documentary film-making
  • the docu-soap
  • reality television.

The study of documentary and the many related forms that have emerged from the genre provide a particularly useful means of exploring the concept of realism, which is central to much of our study of the media. In Chapter 1 we looked at the way in which the media use sign systems to provide us with a representation of the outside world. We also noted that, because of a prevalence of iconic signs in visual media such as film, television and photography, ...

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