How technological advances have affected film and documentary

The first documentaries were made nearly one hundred years ago and it's safe to say the technology has advanced dramatically since then. The first films that were produced are considered to be 'actuality' films. Some say that this is an early term used to describe documentary (the term documentary was not coined until the 1920's). Using this logic, the first moving image films that were made, were made using stroboscopes. These worked through a series of images being placed in a drum and when the drum was spun fast, these images would appear to move (much like a stop-motion animation.) 

However, 60 years later in 1891, the first 35mm camera was invented, and with this came many films that would change and shape the film world into what it is today. After the invention of what is thought to be the first proper film camera came the silent era. Many great and influential films were made during these era, and quite often many short film producers felt they had no boundaries when making film, unlike theatre. Georges Melies, particularly, made many films which included lavish sets and crazy special affects. With many film producers inheriting this attitude,  the film industry went on to develop faster and faster.

In 1910, due to the global popularity of film, many films began to last longer than just one reel and this meant that producers could add more to their films, including more of a narrative which, compared to theatre, film lacked.  

In 1929, Dziga Vertov released what many people consider to be the first proper documentary. It follows many of the same documentary conventions that exist today and this film could be seen as the start of the 'documentary.' Also in the 1920's came the 'talkie' pictures. This benefited documentary films, as now they could have many of the conventions that today's documentaries have, such as a narrator and ambient sound.  

Man With a Movie Camera by Dziga Vertov  and A Trip To The Moon by Georges Melies

The introduction of colour was something that impressed audiences in the 1930's. Many film producers started experimenting with color film in the early 1900's but it didn't really come into play until the 1930's. A famous example of this is the Wizard of Oz film. They shot lots of the movie in black and white, then decided to use colour. 

Perhaps the biggest advance in technology in regards to documentary is the introduction of lighter weight cameras and sale of cameras to the public in the 1950's, 60's and 70's. In a time of political uproar, many film makers turned to documentary to express opinions and to protest.  With the help of a lighter camera, this could be done with ease and they could film real places and real people, not actors. Audiences could relate to this and because of this documentaries became very popular amongst film audiences.

A screen shot from a political documentary called 'La hora de los hornos'

In the 2000's, analysts noted that documentary had become increasingly successful in theatrical release with films such as Farenheit 911, Supersize Me, Food Inc., March Of The Penguins, and An Inconvenient Truth among the most prominent examples. Compared to dramatic narrative films, documentaries typically have far lower budgets which makes them attractive to film companies because even a limited theatrical release can be highly profitable.

The nature of documentary films has expanded in the past 20 years from the style introduced in the 1950's and 60s in which the use of portable camera and sound equipment allows for an intimate relationship between filmmaker and subject. The line blurs between documentary and narrative and some works are very personal.

The intro of smaller cameras allowed Iraqi's to film the popular documentary film Voices of Iraq.