Documentary

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part of Video Production · tier 2 · 0 pieces of work carry it · 4 crafts it is confused with

The craft, and who hires it

Hired when a brand wants credibility through real stories — founder documentaries, athlete profiles, social-impact films. Market caveat: no benchmark studio sells 'Documentary' as a nav bucket (only Tool's tonal tag 'Docu-Style'), so this leaf was minted on partial evidence and sits on the M1-C keep-or-cull re-check card (carry #49) for Joe's sitting — live and taggable until marked otherwise.

Non-fiction production craft: real people and real events captured with observational and interview method — vérité shooting, subject-led narrative, unscripted material shaped in the edit. The method is the craft, not a look.

Tag it when…

Tag when the non-fiction METHOD is the visible governing craft: unscripted real subjects, interview/vérité coverage, story discovered and built in the edit — not merely a documentary-ish aesthetic on scripted material.

Never tag it when…

Never tag scripted work shot 'docu-style' — that is a directing/look treatment (facet territory), not this craft. The piece's format label is never the rule basis: a testimonial video is cinematography+editing by craft and takes this leaf only when non-fiction method genuinely governs the production.

Easily mistaken for 4 other crafts

Every other page suggests neighbours by similarity. This one navigates by difference: each line names the craft this is confused with, and the rule for telling them apart.

• video production branded content — Orthogonal claims: Documentary = the non-fiction METHOD; Branded Content = the brand-funded, story-led POSTURE. A brand-funded doc series is both — this leaf carries the method claim, Branded Content the deliverable claim; neither substitutes for the other.
• video production film tv entertainment — A doc feature commissioned and distributed by a streamer adds the entertainment-property claim; documentary method alone (a brand's own doc short) stays this leaf only.
• video production commercial spot — A :30 built from doc-style interviews is a SPOT — the media-buy sell posture wins; documentary method inside an ad is treatment, never this leaf.
• Direction 'docu style' treatment (Tool's tonal tag) — 'Docu-Style'/'real-people' is a directing style descriptor; this leaf requires actual unscripted non-fiction production.

At what size it applies

Asset tag when the whole piece is documentary-method production. A doc-style interview or vérité beat inside a spot or brand film is a moment, never this asset tag.

Where to look next

• The whole services tree — the services index.
• Every other vocabulary — the vocabulary index.
• How work gets credited to a craft — the entities chapter.