ABSTRACT
Documentary filmmakers are, in the main, technological opportunists. They seize on the technological developments that will allow them to achieve their particular purposes, whether they be less obtrusive filming or active engagements with their subjects. They sometimes achieve their results despite the technologies they use. So it would be wrong to see technology as defining documentary filmmaking. Nevertheless, it is necessary to understand a little about the implications of the move from film to video technology, and from analogue to digital technology. These have offered new possibilities to filmmakers, and they have altered the relationships involved in production, from the way interviews are conducted to the possibilities for engagement of those commissioning a project in the nature of the end result.
