Introduction - 4

The Origins of Documentary

This form of art was able to do what none had done before. It was able to represent the spontaneous – the every day essence of life itself. The term documentary is said to have been coined by John Grierson (1878 – 1972). Grierson a Scottish film maker, who was to pilot the British documentary movement, described documentary as the “creative treatment of actuality”.

The everyday lives that he and film makers like Robert Flaherty portrayed could be described as dull and boring, but with a creative input and editing they were able to make the ordinary watchable and allow audiences to see films that were real but within the confines of a timed piece of film.

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