Mockumentary

A real life PowerPoint presentation by Chris Baker and Nathan Meyer

Mockumentary (n.) A film or television program that is shot like a documentary but is fictitious and usually satirical.

(Source: www.dictionary.com)

The term mockumentary is a portmanteau of mock and documentary.

(source: www.wikipedia.com)

Characteristics of a Mockumentary

• Satirical• Funny/Humorous• Fictitious• Sometimes Political• Thought provoking

Setting

• The setting for a Mockumentary can take place anywhere that a documentary might be filmed– An office building– A news studio– A movie set– A person’s home

Characters

• Interviewer/camera crew

• Subject (sports team/athlete, celebrity, political figure, newscaster, etc…)

Storylines• Serialized installments of the ‘everyday’

-The Office-Spinal Tap-Curb Your Enthusiasm

• The events surrounding a ‘big event’-Best in Show-A Mighty Wind-Waiting for Guffman

• Cataloging the events of a journey-Borat

Themes

• Christopher Guest: “I am interested in the notion that people can become so obsessed by their world that they lose sense and awareness of how they appear to other people. They're so earnest about it.”

• The inherent humor of the human experience.

Value Assumptions

• Life is funny. • Humor can be created anywhere out of

anything.• People, for all of their weirdness, can learn to

live together.• Eccentricity is mocked and celebrated.

The most famous Mockumentarian of

modern day … Christopher Guest

Other Famous Mockumentaries of the Big Screen

Mockumentaries written for T.V.

Enough talking, lets watch!

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