Class 14: Documentaries

This week's class was given by a guest lecturer - Bob Sternberg from the Science Communication Group. We were given a whirlwind tour of TV documentary over the last century, from the 1920s Nanook of the North, through the different forms that emerged in the '60s with the introduction of new technology, to the mixes of different approaches often found in science documentary today.

We heard about four basic types of documentary: expository (where an argument is followed through), observational ('fly on the wall'), interactive (or interventionist, making use of interviews), and finally a reflexive form that acknowledges the constructed nature of the reality a documentary presents.

Bob left us thinking about how all documentary actually creates the 'reality' that we are presented with. This is a key idea that we'll be considering over the next few weeks as we look at other media for science communication. The close analytical work we started doing today - asking how a particular effect is created, who has done it, and why - will be repeated on other media such as museums, websites, and science books.

Bob's handout, and one from us giving some extra advice on assignment four, are both available on WebCT.