What Is A Documentary

Imagine you are talking to a person who has never before seen or even heard of a documentary film. How would you describe it? What are some essential elements of a documentary film? What distinguishes a documentary film from a narrative (Hollywood) film or a broadcast news story?

A documentary is typically an hour or more long you could say feature length, that documents the life of someone or something and what they do or what they did. What distinguishes it from a regular film is that it's documenting what certain things happen or happened in a certain period of time. It's factual, informational, and its dramatic. I'd say those are they key differences unlike a movie or TV show its not fictional, it is purely non-fiction. 

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