Documentaries and Data Visuals: Techniques That Claim to Show the Truth

Hook: "this is real"

A documentary feels different from fiction. It seems to say: this really happened, and here is the proof. But every documentary, like every media text, is constructed: someone chose what to film, whom to interview, which 90 minutes to keep out of 200 hours, and what music to put under the sad part.

So do charts. A graph looks objective: numbers don't lie. But the same numbers can be drawn to look like a crisis or like nothing much.

This lesson looks at two forms that claim to show the truth, documentaries and data visuals, and at the techniques that shape what audiences believe.

Documentary: "the creative treatment of actuality"

The Scottish filmmaker John Grierson, who became the first Government Film Commissioner of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) when it was created in 1939, described documentary as the creative treatment of actuality. Both halves matter: it's based on actuality (real people and events), but the treatment is creative (selected, arranged and shaped).

Film scholar Bill Nichols described six modes of documentary. Most films mix them, but one usually dominates:

• Expository: a narrator (sometimes called the voice of God) explains and argues; images illustrate the argument.
• Observational: the camera watches events unfold, with little or no narration or interviews.
• Participatory: the filmmaker interacts with subjects on camera, often interviewing them.
• Poetic: images, rhythm and mood matter more than argument.
• Reflexive: the film draws attention to how it was made, making viewers question documentary itself.
• Performative: the filmmaker's personal experience and feelings are at the centre.

Documentary techniques and what they do

• Interviews (talking heads): give expertise and personal stories (ethos, pathos). Watch who is interviewed and how they are framed.
• B-roll: supporting footage over narration or interviews (you met it in Grade 10). It can illustrate, or it can suggest things the speaker never said.
• Archival footage and photos: old material that adds authority and history. Check whether it really shows what the film implies.
• Reenactment: recreated scenes. Honest films label them.
• Narration: tells you how to interpret what you see.
• Music: directs emotion, often without viewers noticing.
• Editing and structure: the order of scenes builds an argument; what's left out is invisible.

Ethics: documentary subjects are real people. Responsible filmmakers get informed consent, represent subjects fairly, and don't stage events as if they were real.

Data visuals: techniques that shape belief

Charts and infographics are media texts too. Common techniques that can mislead (on purpose or by accident):

• Truncated axis: a bar chart's vertical axis that doesn't start at zero exaggerates differences. (Line graphs sometimes reasonably zoom in, but should label the axis clearly.)
• Cherry-picked time range: choosing start and end dates that show only the trend you want.
• Uneven intervals: axis steps that aren't equal (2010, 2015, 2016, 2017).
• Area distortion: using pictures (icons, 3D shapes) whose area grows faster than the number. Doubling an icon's height and width makes it four times the area.
• Totals vs rates: a bigger city will have more of almost everything; comparing per person (per capita) rates is often fairer.
• Missing source or sample size.