There are many effective ways of presenting materials, facts and so-called truths in the world of documentary films. While some of them are made into Blockbuster / Hollywood films, others are created on a low budget or suit the style of Made for TV. Despite the method, there are two methods that often coincide with one another. These are mockumentary films and docu-films. Although both of them fall under the definition of being movies, recorded with actors and scripts, there is one large factor that separates the two. The following comparison is based on an analysis of the genres as the directors classify them.
Mockumentary
The mockumentary film genre is often interpreted as being a mockery – mocking other films, famous people or ideas in general. This understanding is often true, but there is another defining factor that makes the mockumentary. This type of documentary rarely has any realistic truth or fact to them. For example, one might have written a script for a movie, but decide to present it through fictional interviews with people who do not actually exist in real life.
An example of this would be the film The Poughkeepsie Tapes. This movie is about a serial killer in Poughkeepsie, New York, whose story is presented through video clips apparently made by him while attacking his victims, interviews with police and FBI investigators and interviews with family members and surviving victims. Although this story is confirmed fiction by writers, it is presented as a documentary – hence, a mockumentary.
Other examples of mockumentary include Drop Dead Gorgeous, which is a film surrounding the preparations for a beauty pageant in central USA and one mother’s desire for her daughter to win the crown and The Kongs of Dong, which follows game lovers when they compete against each other in the famous arcade game ‘Donkey Kong’.
Docu-Film
Docu-films are very similar to mockumentary films, except the information presented here is mostly true. Typical examples of mockumentary films include bibliographies and world-events that to some might be more appealing if presented in a movie-format rather than factual interviews and video-clips. At times, it is hard to even consider these films as a branch of documentaries, because they appear to fit the Hollywood frame better.
The movie world is booming with examples of docu-film, as they are becoming more popular and a more accepted genre of films. One example of the biographical docu-films include Into the Storm, which is a film focusing on the life of Winston Churchill before, during and after the defeat of Hitler’s Germany. Brendan Gleeson plays the role of Churchill and does an incredible job of capturing Churchill as he was during these stressful times.
Another example includes the film Munich, which surrounds the assassination of several Israeli athletes in 1972 in Munich, Germany during the Olympic Games. Although this film does not go in depth about what happened prior to the assassination or explain what might have led to them, it does focus on the aftermath and on the lives of those clearly affected. This film in particular is a good example of a docu-film because it is a significant event that changed the political and social relationships between the countries involved, but not all of the facts presented are necessarily true. Since some of the information is possibly fiction, such an event is perhaps better presented as a movie to appeal to a larger audience.
Although these two type of films are very similar in terms of documentary films and conventions, they differ in terms of the materials and ideas presented, as the mockumentary is packed with fiction, while the docu-films present the truth through other channels, such as actors. It can be hard to define which one is more entertaining of two genres as it depends on the individual preference, but one thing is for sure – the mockumentary films should never be taken as fact, truth or a source of learning when it comes to the materials presented.
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