The word “Actuality” when used to describe the material used in in documentary or non-fiction project, whether it’s film, video, or a photograph means that it was recorded “actually” happening and was not staged or manipulated in anyway.

Newgrange prehistoric mound in Ireland - The rising sun shines through the window above the entrance on the Winter Solstice. © JRM

In a pure sense a documentary film is a story that uses actuality sources to create a non-fiction documentation of some reality. Actuality meaning something that “actually’ happened and was in some way recorded on film, video, still photographs, audio, or other medium. It’s a non-fiction reality, somehow witnessed and recorded. A documentary does not employ actors to recreate a reality of which we have knowledge in some way. As soon as we employ actors, or script what is going to happen, even if it is based on a true story or event, we have created a fictional story.

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