The Documentary Handbook The Documentary Handbook takes a thematic approach to documentary, including chapters on the many myriad forms we watch today – from the cinematic releases of Michael Moore to low-budget internet efforts like Video Nation, from ‘shock docs’ to reality television. The Documentary Handbook is a critical introduction to the documentary film, its theory and changing practices. The book charts the evolution of the documentary from screen art to core television genre, its metamorphosis into many different types of factual TV programmes and its current emergence in forms of new media. It analyses those pathways and the transformation of means of production through economic, technical and editorial changes. The Documentary Handbook explains the documentary process, skills and job specifica- tions for everyone from industry entrants to senior personnel, and shows how the industrial evolution of television has relocated the powers and principles of decision-making. Through the use of professional ‘expert briefings’ it gives practical pointers about programme- making, from researching, developing and pitching programme ideas to their production and delivery through a fast-evolving multi-platform universe. Peter Lee-Wright is a documentary filmmaker with 30 years’ experience working for the BBC and Channel 4. He is currently Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London. His most recent writing includes critical overviews of sports documentary and trade union documentary in Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film (2005) and analysis of the changes taking place in multimedia news, notably in New Media, Old News (edited by Natalie Fenton, 2009). Media Practice Edited by James Curran, Goldsmiths, University of London The Media Practice handbooks are comprehensive resource books for students of media and journalism, and for anyone planning a career as a media professional. Each handbook combines a clear introduction to understanding how the media work with practical information about the structure, processes and skills involved in working in today’s media industries, providing not only a guide on ‘how to do it’ but also a critical reflection on contemporary media practice. The Newspapers Handbook 4th edition Richard Keeble The Advertising Handbook 3rd edition Helen Powell, Jonathan Hardy, Sarah Hawkin and Iain MacRury The Television Handbook 3rd edition Jonathan Bignell and Jeremy Orlebar The Photography Handbook 2nd edition Terence Wright The Magazines Handbook 2nd edition Jenny McKay The Public Relations Handbook 3rd edition Alison Theaker The Cyberspace Handbook Jason Whittaker The Fashion Handbook Tim Jackson and David Shaw The New Media Handbook Andrew Dewdney and Peter Ride The Alternative Media Handbook Kate Coyer, Tony Dowmunt and Alan Fountain The Radio Handbook 3rd edition Carole Fleming The Documentary Handbook Peter Lee-Wright First published 2010 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2009. To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk. © 2010 Peter Lee-Wright All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Lee-Wright, Peter The documentary handbook/Peter Lee-Wright. p. cm. – (Media practice) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Documentary films – History and criticism. I. Title. PN1995.9.D6L384 2009 070.18–dc22 2009022687 ISBN 0-203-86719-X Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0–415–43401–7 (hbk) ISBN10: 0–415–43402–5 (pbk) ISBN10: 0–203–86719–X (ebk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–43401–0 (hbk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–43402–7 (pbk) ISBN13: 978–0–203–86719–8 (ebk) To Linda – support beyond words Contents List of illustrations ix Acknowledgements x Introduction 1 Part I Talk to the camera 9 1 Reportage 12 2 Exposé: investigations, undercover and the so-jo 34 3 From lectures to landmarks: history and ideas 51 4 Vox populi: the voice of the people 73 Part II Observe the people 89 5 Real life 92 6 Docu-soap and mocu-soap 110 7 Extreme television: flashing lights and freak shows 128 Part III Change the mind 145 8 Education 147 9 Propaganda 163 10 Polemic 180 11 Liberation 199 viii Contents Part IV Entertainment for all 217 12 Formats and reality TV 219 13 Lifestyle: house and garden, makeover and motors, food and travel 238 14 Performance and performers 257 15 Drama-doc and docu-drama 277 16 Art and anarchy 295 Part V Watch the figures 313 17 Box office 316 18 Biopics 335 19 Wildlife 355 Notes 371 Bibliography 406 Selective webography 413 Index 415 Illustrations 1.1 Sean Langan ‘Meeting the Taliban’ for Dispatches: War on Terror 24 2.1 Undercover Mosque. Produced by Hardcash Productions 35 3.1 Bettany Hughes, Athens: The Truth About Democracy © Bettany Hughes 61 4.1 Sortie des Ouviers de l’Usine Lumière (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory) (Lumière 1895) 74 4.2 User-generated content: the G20 protest in London. Photograph by zongo69. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License 85 5.1 Malcolm and Barbara: A Love Story © ITV/Rex Features. 1999 Malcolm and Barbara Pointon 104 6.1 Curb Your Enthusiasm © HBO/The Kobal Collection 121 6.2 The Armstrongs 122 7.1 Cops Courtesy Langley Productions, Inc. 129 8.1 Front cover of Ways of Seeing by John Berger (London: Penguin Books, 1990). Copyright © John Berger, 1972. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd 153 8.2 Breaking the News. Reproduced by permission of Illumina Digital Ltd 160 9.1 Leni Riefenstahl at Nuremburg, 1934 167 10.1 Bowling for Columbine © Alliance Atlantis/Dog Eat Dog/United Broadcasting/The Kobal Collection 190 11.1 Poster for Estrellas de la Lineas 202 12.1 The Big Brother logo – the all-seeing eye. Big Brother logo licensed by Channel 4 226 13.1 Kevin McCloud, presenter of Grand Designs. Photography by Glenn Dearing, Camera Press London 241 14.1 Shine a Light © Concert Promotions International/The Kobal Collection/ Mazur-Umaz, Kevin 263 15.1 The Verdict. Produced by RDF Television 290 16.1 David by Sam Taylor-Wood © Adam Butler/AP/PA Photos 305 17.1 Touching the Void © Film Four/Pathe/The Kobal Collection/ Sutton-Hibbert, Jeremy 317 18.1 Notorious © Fox Searchlight Pictures/The Kobal Collection 342 19.1 Life in Cold Blood. Photograph: BBC/PA 356 Acknowledgements This book draws on such a rich weave of personal experience, critical conversation and convivial support that it will be impossible to name all who have contributed to it. But the spheres of influence in which I have worked I acknowledge with heartfelt gratitude, from the BBC and Channel 4 to the National Film and Television School, Southampton Solent University and Goldsmiths, University of London. I particularly thank my colleagues at Goldsmiths for their unstinting support and vital comments on the text: James Curran, Tony Dowmunt, Natalie Fenton and Noel Hines. I also had invaluable detailed feedback from broadcast journalist Mat Charles and documentary filmmaker Tracy Bass, both of whom also teach at Goldsmiths. The former Head of the Short Course Unit at the NFTS, Deanne Edwards, gave early and timely advice on the book’s focus. Conversations and interviews are acknowledged within the text, but I would particularly like to mention Kevin Sutcliffe, Deputy Head of News and Current Affairs at Channel 4, and Martin Turner, Head of Newsgathering Operations at the BBC, for their regular advice. Richard Klein – former documentary commissioner at the BBC, now Controller, BBC4, Angus Macqueen – former Head of Documentaries at Channel 4, Sue Davidson – former commissioner of science documentaries at Channel Five and Emma Read – commissioning editor for factual entertainment and specialist factual at Sky, lead a long list of key contributors from the commissioning carousel that ensures they will be in other posts by the time of publication. Producers and filmmakers who gave generously of their time include Vicki Barrass, Ed Braman, Mike Flood Page, David Dunkley Gyimah, Abigail Harvey, Sean Langan, Gavin MacFadyen and Helen Veale. The BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol were especially welcoming and I am most grateful to Miles Barton, Alastair Fothergill and Nigel Pope. Among those who contributed to the expert briefings, all of whom I should like to thank, I should mention Murray Dick, Shiva Kuma Naspuri and Hannah the Journalist. I would also like to thank my editor Aileen Storry for her constant confidence through the lengthy gestation of this book, and my wife Linda for her undying support. Peter Lee-Wright Introduction Film is more than the twentieth-century art. It’s another part of the twentieth- century mind. It’s the world seen from inside. We’ve come to a certain point in the history of film. If a thing can be filmed, the film is implied in the thing itself. This is where we are. The twentieth century is on film . You have to ask yourself if there’s anything about us more important than the fact that we’re constantly on film, constantly watching ourselves. Don DeLillo, The Names, ch. 8, New York 1982 If you want to tell the untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you’ve got to find a language.