Editing by tom baker

Documentaries have had a very similar structure throughout history. The majority of the time documentary makers have used a combination of interviews and ‘B roll’ footage to make an effective and educational film. B roll footage is footage of the topic that is the documentary is about that prevents the viewer from only seeing floating heads throughout the film. Good B roll footage is vital, because without it the viewer would find the film to boring just looking at interviews the whole time, the footage gives the viewers something interesting to watch and matches the words of the interview to actual images. Interviews are used in documentaries to try and support the topic, it can also show how people feel about the topic and introduces the viewer to people who are involved in the topic. The majority of documentations use interviews to support there topic, however certain types of documentaries such as nature based ones do not necessarily conform to many traditions of documentary such as interviews.

Many documentaries also use archived footage to show past events to help support an argument. This is done as it helps the viewer understand what the interview is telling the viewer. If archive footage of the topic is being shown it shows what it was really like at that place or time etc. Archived footage also shows authenticity in the documentary as it shows the viewer that the topic really did happen and they have proof.