# I need a documentary to show my class **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 12, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-documentary-to-show-my-class/673727 "2013-11-12T15:33:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-documentary-to-show-my-class/673727/1 "2013-11-12T15:33:25Z")
I am teaching my class how to make documentaries. I think it would be a good idea for them to see a well-made one so they can see how all the elements like interviews and using natural sounds and voiceovers and background music at various places in the documentary come together. I would prefer something that is online (i.e. free) and it needs to be appropriate in a school. Any ideas out there? ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-documentary-to-show-my-class/673727/2 "2013-11-12T15:35:46Z")
I’d recommend [Forgotten Silver](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgotten_Silver), mostly because it is a mockumentary and it will be fun to tell them at the end! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-documentary-to-show-my-class/673727/3 "2013-11-12T16:00:23Z")
_[Super Size Me](http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/super_size_me)_ is a popular documentary that showcases a lot of the techniques you mentioned. (It’s free but there are commercials in it.) ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-documentary-to-show-my-class/673727/4 "2013-11-12T16:08:10Z")
[Riding Giants](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riding_Giants) is one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen. It especially excels at the sort of A/V editing you’re talking about. There are a couple of “fucks” and “shits” here and there, but nothing frequent or terrible. It’d be worth sending a permission slip home if needed. Also, it is easily worth the price of the DVD. The stories, history, and personalities are so great that even landlocked kids who couldn’t care less about surfing will be enthralled. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-documentary-to-show-my-class/673727/5 "2013-11-12T16:14:21Z")
Well, Errol Morris (Fog of War) is widely considered the finest documentary director alive… but his subjects are probably too intense for a classroom. How about something from the _30 for 30_ series? A lot of them are available in youtube , sports are fairly relevant to the kids, and the people involved are usually top notch filmmakers. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-documentary-to-show-my-class/673727/6 "2013-11-12T16:27:45Z")
Herzog’s [Texting](http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/08/09/werner_herzog_texting_while_driving_documentary_from_one_second_to_the_next.html) documentary. Free, only about 30 minutes (so it can be seen during classtime), incredibly well made, and as far as I’m concerned, required watching for everyone, especially teens. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-documentary-to-show-my-class/673727/7 "2013-11-12T16:38:58Z")
I would find an episode of Frontline that you think would interest the class and use that. They are almost always well made and are usually less than an hour. The recent one about Football would be good (although that is 2 hours). You can find them streaming [here](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/view/). ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-documentary-to-show-my-class/673727/8 "2013-11-12T16:46:24Z")
[My Life as a Turkey](http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/my-life-as-a-turkey/full-episode/7378/) is one of the finest documentaries I have ever seen and it is absolutely G rated. I have never heard of anyone that didn’t like it. The narration and the camera work are top notch even though it is a very simple story. It really shows you what a good documentary maker can do with even the most basic themes. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-documentary-to-show-my-class/673727/9 "2013-11-12T16:46:26Z")
I am fond of [The Parking Lot Movie](http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The_Parking_Lot_Movie/70134661). Made by amateurs and well-received. And quite funny. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-documentary-to-show-my-class/673727/10 "2013-11-12T16:47:58Z")
The disaster of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition is a great story. Here are the IMDB pages of two documentaries about it: [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280105/?ref\_=fn\_al\_tt\_4](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280105/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4) > **[The Endurance (2000) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264578/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)** > > The Endurance: Directed by George Butler. With Liam Neeson, Julian Ayer, John Blackborow, David Cale. A retelling of Sir Ernest Shackleton 's ill-fated expedition to Antarctica in 1914-1916, featuring new footage of the actual locations and... Everyone on The Endurance survived the expedition. Every single one of them. It’s amazing that any of them survived, let alone all of them. That’s why the historical view of Shackleton has gone from “also-ran” to “stone hero”. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-documentary-to-show-my-class/673727/11 "2013-11-12T17:45:23Z")
When I took Film Aesthetics in college, the token documentary was _The Thin Blue Line_. I think it’s an excellent documentary with all the right pieces, including Philip Glass music and an unexpected shift in the viewer’s perception of the situation. ---
**Author:** ![DvorJaques](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3e96dc/32.png) [@DvorJaques](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DvorJaques)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-documentary-to-show-my-class/673727/12 "2013-11-12T18:06:32Z")
The subject matter may be a little advanced depending on the age of the students, but I would recommend any Adam Curtis documentary. [The Power of Nightmares](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_of_Nightmares) is probably his most famous one, but [The Trap](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trap_%28television_documentary_series%29) is my favorite. I think Adam Curtis is one of the best documentary makers out there. His documentaries are really linear where pretty much every scene leads to the following one. His documentaries are pretty much the opposite of those meandering ‘personal growth’ style documentaries, of which I am very much not a fan. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-documentary-to-show-my-class/673727/13 "2013-11-12T20:47:26Z")
While Morgan Spurlock’s style works well his knack for glossing over or inventing data to me doesn’t jive with a real documentary. He’s much too invested in his version of the story much like Michael Moore. I second the notion of Errol Morris docus and he even had a series of shorter subjects that could be suitable for the classroom. [First person - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Person_(TV_series)) I also recommend the Werner Herzog documentaries like Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Encounters at the End of the World, The White Diamond all ought to be classroom friendly ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-documentary-to-show-my-class/673727/14 "2013-11-12T20:47:58Z")
A classic from the 70s: _Hearts and Minds_. Don’t know if it’s PD yet. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-documentary-to-show-my-class/673727/15 "2013-11-12T21:04:55Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > Herzog’s [Texting](http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/08/09/werner_herzog_texting_while_driving_documentary_from_one_second_to_the_next.html) documentary. > > Free, only about 30 minutes (so it can be seen during classtime), incredibly well made, and as far as I’m concerned, required watching for everyone, especially teens. I think this is a winner. A little longer than the students’ documentary and a good blending of all of the elements. The only thing is it is almost all interviews with no narrator voiceovers so I may use a clip from Ken Burns’ docs to illustrate those elements.