documentary style
Real-world filming approach
Documentary style refers to an aesthetic that mimics or borrows from nonfiction filmmaking—handheld cameras, natural lighting, on-location shooting, and unpolished performances that suggest real events being captured rather than staged.
The approach appears across fiction films, television, and photography to create an impression of authenticity or immediacy: The show uses documentary style to make the workplace comedy feel more realistic.
Also called cinéma vérité style.
- cinéma véritéNaturalistic documentary approach
- fly-on-the-wallUndetected observer status
- hidden cameraConcealed recording device
- authenticityQuality of being genuine
- objectivityFreedom from personal bias
real people · voiceovers · first person · realism · slice of life · film · field recordings · photography · Ken Burns · verisimilitude · natural lighting · audio recordings · interviews · podcasts · reenactments · truth · mockumentary · television
- family photographyportrait, group shot, candid, posed photo, birthday photo
- directorial approachescinema verite, storyboarding, long takes, handheld camera, naturalism
- lifestyle photographycandid shots, natural light, family portraits, couple photos, golden hour
- naturalismnaturalism, literary realism, realism, determinism, empiricism
- Realist Cinemaneorealism, location shooting, social realism, non-actors, natural lighting
- French CinemaFrench New Wave, Godard, auteur, Catherine Deneuve, Playtime
documentary stylefictional narrative
Invented story with plot
Hollywood style · narrative fiction · studio production · theatrical film · dramatic reenactment
documentary stylestudio lighting
Controlled artificial illumination setup
documentary stylefiction
Imagined narrative work
fantasy · fabrication · make-believe · fairy tale · science fiction