“A documentary film presents a version of events that
viewers are intended to accept not primarily as the product of someone’s imagination but primarily as fact.” (William H Phillips., Film, an Introduction, 1999)
Menurut Phillips, para pembuat film dokumenter biasanya
melakukan satu atau lebih hal-hal berikut: 1. Memfilmkan apa yang terjadi 2. Merekonstruksi apa yang telah terjadi dan memfilmkannya, atau 3. Memfilmkan bagaimana sesuatu bisa terjadi.
“Documentary makes and argument and centres on
evidence, and this usually includes some reliance on narration and interpretation. In other words, documentary always has a point of view, even if it claims to be a neutral one.” (Bignell, Jonathan. dan Orlebar, Jeremy., The Television Handbook, 2005) 5W1H What? Who? When? Where? Why? How? 5 Elemen Dokumenter 1. Observasi 2. Wawancara 3. Dramatisasi 4. Mise-en-scene 5. Eksposisis Tahapan Penulisan Outline/Naskah Dokumenter IDE! (Riset adalah Mutlak)