Readings notes: J. Chapman 'Issues in contemporary documentary'

Below are notes from a reading by J. Chapman called 'Issues in contemporary documentary'.

-Documentary is fast changing with the digital revolution and with the enormous increase in internet usage, the range of outlets for distribution continues to become more diverse.
-Today documentary is so diverse and diffuse that the genre is hard to define.
-Chapman argues that contextual factors, including historical consciousness, institutional influences such as that of documentary on television, can help our understanding of what documentary is.
-Many people seem to feel that documentary brings us closer to the truth for two reasons: 1) because of documentary's feature an absence of fictionalised elements 2) because of the commonplace illusion that events as depicted in a documentary have not been controlled by the filmmaker.
-A filmmaker does indeed focus on events that are out of their control, however, they can present these events in anyway they choose.