Qualities of a "good" documentary

     All documentaries have one main point or goal which usually either informs, or educates an audience on a particular topic and or subject. With all the pioneers in filmmaking nowadays, there are several distinct differences between a well shot documentary and a poorly shot one. A good documentary is very informative and includes not only reliable sources, but valid sources. For example, if your documentary is covering the events of Pearl Harbor, wouldn't it make more sense to discuss the issues as they occurred with someone who was present, instead of either looking up the info online or asking someone who is a secondary source to the event? A poor documentary will usually not dig deep enough in research. Another aspect of a good documentary includes camera editing. With technology that is used in the film industry these days, documentaries and movies around the world are becoming to crisp and well edited. Camera cuts are smooth and seamless and it seems as if the documentary was a costly production even though most are all low budget films. The most important part of a good documentary is the information the audience takes away after the film is over. This is the most key aspect of the documentary process because the entire point of documenting something is to gather research and information to share with the general population. Documentaries seem to appear out of no where these days, but these key features set certain films apart from the rest.