Introduction

Information is often deliberately imparted in the form of written or spoken communication. It can be encoded in HTML and accessed via the Internet, can be spoken by someone and not stored in any physical way, or it can be written in a book and read by others. In each case, there is a recognizable difference between the information and the object which presents it; for instance, the text, font, and layout of a book function as a vehicle to get the information from the page to your head. In other words, we implicitly understand that the content of something exists within a specific form. Additionally, we recognize that these forms are to some extent something chosen and edited by their creators. A book tells someone's version of events, and a webpage includes only the information that is chosen by its creator. A speaker chooses to use particular words and tells a particular version of events. When approaching books, lectures, websites, and other information-bearing objects, it is necessary to expect that the information imparted by these sources to be chosen and edited, and not a completely objective or unbiased view of reality.

But what happens when, in a particular form, an information-bearing object is seen as an objective record of events? Film, and before that, photography, offered a new way to record information. By seeming to allow the possibility to objectively document events as they happened, film allowed filmmakers to claim that their information is objective and unmediated reality - a recording of events and facts as they actually happened. Even if filmmakers don't explicitly claim that their nonfiction films reflect what actually happened in the world, this can often be assumed by the audience.

What exactly a documentary film is has been debated by filmmakers, critics, and film scholars. The variety of types of films included under the umbrella label of 'documentary' show a large range of differences in the type and amounts of mediation they engage in, while the grouping of these films as nonfiction suggests that viewers find something in common among all of them that is reflective of reality rather than being a fictional treatment. However, the presentation and editing choices of a documentary film inevitably affect how and what we think of its contents. Choices about narration, sound, what shots to include, and other film-making decisions have to be made, and how these choices are made can affect our perceptions of the information contained within the immersive, visual communication of film. The way in which different types of documentary films come together under the heading of documentary shows that a wide range of techniques and artistry are engaged in by the creators of motion picture works purporting to be nonfiction. As with books, websites, and all other information-bearing objects, the creator or author of the object has a point of view and makes editorial decisions about inclusion and exclusion.

Tracing the history of documentary films in America, common threads emerge that allow us to see the ways in which documentaries work. While great variation exists in both the intent of a filmmaker and the reception of a film by an audience, it can be seen that most documentaries contain both fiction and nonfiction elements. Finally, the recent box-office success of documentaries in the United States can also allow us to see documentary film conventions as a mixture of elements combining to form a perspective on reality or truth.

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