A Filmmaker's Guide to: Docudrama

In this chapter of ‘the filmmaker’s guide’ we’re actually going to be learning about literature and film together. I understand that many of you are sitting in university during difficult times and finding it increasingly hard to study and I understand that many of you who are not at university or not planning on it are possibly stuck of what to do, need a break or even need to catch up on learning film before you get to the next level. This guide will be brief but will also contain: new vocabulary, concepts and theories, films to watch and we will be exploring something taboo until now in the ‘filmmaker’s guide’ - academia (abyss opens). Each article will explore a different concept of film, philosophy, literature or bibliography/filmography etc. in order to give you something new to learn each time we see each other. You can use some of the words amongst family and friends to sound clever or you can get back to me (email in bio) and tell me how you’re doing. So, strap in and prepare for the filmmaker’s guide to film studies because it is going to be one wild ride.

Docudrama

What is it?

The dictionary defines a docudrama as:

"...a dramatised film based on real events."

This means that when we adapt them from books, we normally use nonfiction novels as the base and research. Let us have a look at a few examples. First of all, we have the example of the Civil Rights' Movement in which we have books written by the people who were there such as:

• The Autobiography of Malcolm X
• Letter from Birmingham Jail by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
• One Day When I Was Lost by James Baldwin

According to various studies, docudramas try to do the following with the information of their films:

1. Represent historical events in accuracy
2. Have the events in the film/TV show based on things that really happened and people who were actually there at the time
3. Use of narrative techniques to tell the story clearly
4. Strip the narrative down to the facts and separate the facts from the fictions
5. Have a degree of exaggeration in order to dramatise but not move away from factual characteristics.

What about in film?

In film, docudrama is very popular as depicting actual events in the form of a documentary-styled film can be an efficient way to see not only research on a topic but also visual and audio files if the basis of the docudrama is from the twentieth century, such as the Civil Rights' Movement of the sixties.

Docudramas have been used to depict all kinds of things, from being there as original works of film and television to being adaptations of nonfiction novels, here are some docudramas that you probably want to watch in order to expand your knowledge of them. They are across a wide range of topics, times and are either original or adapted works. I hope you can find the time to enjoy each one:

1. In Cold Blood
2. Goodfellas
3. JFK
4. Schindler's List
5. Ed Wood
6. The Pianist
7. Good Night and Good Luck
8. Zodiac
9. Frost/Nixon
10. 127 Hours
11. Bridge of Spies
12. Hidden Figures

When it comes to making a docudrama, you need to see the difference between docudrama and documentary. A documentary is something such as “What Happened Miss Simone?” and the “Netflix Remastered” series. The things you see on the History Channel and National Geographic are also under the documentary. Whereas, a docudrama is what happens when you get a documentary-style piece, such as something historically, factually correct and you dramatise it. Hence the term, docudrama. But, it also means that you have to place in story techniques of a narrative. You need to create tension, you need to move the story along, often adding or missing vital pieces of information for the sake of the film’s length. This is also why docudramas are popular in the style of television shows such as: “The People vs. OJ Simpson” which was season one of “American Crime Story”.

Let’s take a look at some further reading on the subject.

Further Reading: