Documentaries are a great source of entertainment in today’s society.  One can find a documentary about pretty much anything if they truly want to.  Documentaries can vary between an hour and a half films, to a single television episode, to an entire television series.  Some of my personal favorite documentaries include “Blackfish”, a film about SeaWorld and their killer whale program, another is “No Cameras Allowed”, a film made by a film student who snuck into multiple music festivals around the world.  Both are highly entertaining, and I highly recommend watching them.

While both of these films easily hold my interest, what makes them do so?  What makes a good documentary?  First of all, many documentaries can deal with topics that are not so easy for the average person to understand.  How they relay these topics can really affect the overall quality of the documentary.  One example would be the children’s show “Bill Nye the Science Guy”.  This show takes difficult science topics and breaks them down so children of elementary age level can understand.  Another element that many good documentaries utilize is the voice over aspect.  This allows the creator to talk about a particular event or subject while also showing videos or picture that also have to do with the subject.  It involves both the viewers’ auditory and visual processes.  Thirdly, a god documentary creates a story.  It creates a series of events with characters, a problem, and a resolution.  This is what holds the attention of viewers.  People invest their attention into a story rather than a few pictures and a list of facts being read to them.  Lastly, background music never hurts a documentary.  Everyone loves some dramatic music adding to the effect of a scene.