Background on Documentary Filmmaking

Go to our Reference Shelves and General Stacks and browse around the call numbers starting with PN1993 - PN1999, which is the classification Motion Pictures. Below are some reference sources you may find helpful:

Encyclopedia of the documentary film / Ian Aitken, editor
Film : an international history of the medium
The film encyclopedia
Special edition : a guide to network television documentary series and special news reports, 1955-1979

and

Gale's Virtual Reference Library includes: The History of American Cinema

Library's OASys Catalog: The OASys catalog includes records of videos and DVDs at the main library and Keck Lab. Search the OASys catalog using relevant keywords or subject terms AND "documentary." Please note that you can request videos from other libraries through Link+ and Interlibrary Loan.

Los Angeles Libraries and Museums Web Sites

Los Angeles Public Library. Provides information and entertainment resources, web site indexes, databases, virtual library links as well as links to its central library and branch locations.

UCLA Film & Television Archives. Searchable online catalog to one of the world's largest archives. Study copies of television, newsreels and films can be screened at Powell Library on the UCLA campus.

The Pauley Center for Media (formerly The Museum of Television and Radio). The library at the Beverly Hills location offers 140,000 programs. Searchable catalog and viewing is on-site only. Hours are limited for research. 

Margaret Herrick Library. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. One of the most complete collections of film-related materials assembled.

Hint: Moving Image Genre-form Guide is a list of standardized terms and definitions used by librarians to describe genres and types of films. Useful for alternative terms.

Internet Archive.  Collections include streaming video, audio and text. "Moving Images" sections offers newsreels, industrial films and rare historical materials.

Visual/Oral histories -- look for online catalogs or digital collections for interview footage.  For example, see Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project for oral histories, photographs and documents related to the Japanese American internment of World War II.

Moving Image Collections (MIC) A database of archives. libraries and historical groups with moving image materials.

Library of Congress Public Archives of Moving Images.

Documentary film finder.  Tips and tools for finding films.

DocuSeek Film and Video Finder
Searchable database to independent documentaries.

Search engines and subject directories can be found on our Public Internet Search Tools page. For example, go to the Librarians' Internet Index and try this search: documentary.

This retrieves, for example: Reel Life Stories. This is an online exhibit that traces the evolution of documentary film and filmmaking over the course of the past century.

International Documentary Association (IDA)

Women Make Movies

Visual Communications. Asian-Pacific American Media Center

Bound by Law. Comic Book produced by the Center for the Study of the Public Domain.

Copyright Term and Public Domain in the United States. Chart by Peter Hirtle, Society of American Archivists

Media Advocacy and Best Practices in Fair Use.

Creative Commons

To get started, try a keyword search in OASys. Be sure to notice the subject headings for the best items on your topic. Click on those headings to get more resources. Need more? Click over to LINK+ and continue your searching there. Need even more? WorldCat includes over 54 million entries from more than 45,000 libraries. You may place Interlibrary Loan requests. (Slower than LINK+)

To get started, try a keyword search in OASys. Be sure to notice the subject headings for the best items on your topic. Click on those headings to get more resources. Need more? Click over to LINK+ and continue your searching there. Need even more? WorldCat includes over 54 million entries from more than 45,000 libraries. You may place Interlibrary Loan requests. (Slower than LINK+)

Suggested Keyword Searches for this Topic

keyword:
reality tv
"direct cinema" AND NOT "direct cinema ltd"
"rock music" AND documentary
(docusoaps OR "soap opera") AND documentary
"home movies"

Hint: Remember to be flexible with your terminology and try several different searches.
Hint: Moving Image Genre-form Guide is a list of standardized terms and definitions used by librarians to describe genres and types of films. Useful for alternative terms.

Suggested Subject Headings for this Topic

Documentary films -- History and criticism
Documentary Films -- United States -- History And Criticism
Amateur Films -- History And Criticism
Realism on television
Reality television programs -- United States

You can also browse the general stacks starting with PN1993 - PN1999, which is the classification Motion Pictures that includes documentary films.

For more assistance with searching for books, please see Finding Books.

Oxy's Film & Media Specialized databases (you can access via "Databases by Topic" at Library site):

Film & Television Literature Index (Ebsco)
Covers television and film writing. It has been designed for use by film scholars, college students, and general viewers. Subject coverage includes film & television theory, preservation & restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews.s.

Arts & Humanities Citation Index (FirstSearch)
Find journal articles in the arts and humanities. Offers citations with lists of articles cited. Can be used to find citing articles.

Humanities Full Text (WilsonWeb)
Find citations, abstracts, and full-text for literature on archaeology, art, classics, film, folklore, journalism, linguistics, music, the performing arts, philosophy, religion, world history and world literature.

For more assistance with searching our databases, please see Finding Articles.

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