Brief history of Documentaries

Film maker John Grierson used the term 'Documentary' in 1926 to refer to any type of non-fictional film. The first "moving images" in this case were documetaries, showing a train pulling into a station etc. Early films like these were called 'actuality' films, with little narration or storylines which is now a key convention of documentary. This was due to lack of technological advancement, and so most of the first films were less than a minute long.
Eugène-Louis Doyen a French surgeon made a series of surgical films in the late 1890's, though used as just a means of improving his work.
Romanian professor Gheorge Marinescu made his own set of science films in his neurology clinic sometime between July 1898 and 1901. He called them "studies with the help of the cinematograph" and published the films.
Documentary progressed through to the 1920's producing some of the most influential documentary films of all time, including h Robert J. Flaherty's 'Nanook of the North' in 1922. This brought about a more complex artistic view in documentary, and embraced 'Romanticism' which places emphasis on strong emotions such as terror, awe, horror and trepidation.
Through to the 1940's, documentary was being used as political propoganda. The most popular example of this is Leni Riefenstahl's film Triumph of the Will (1935)which concerned the nazi political party congress in Nuremberg.
In Britain,the Documentary Film Movement was formed under John Grierson. Including film makers such as Harry Watt, Alberto Cavalcanti, Basil Wright, and Humphrey Jennings. Their productions were an amalgamation of poetry, education and propoganda. Examples of their work include 'Drifters' by John Grierson and 'Song of Ceylon' by Basil Wright.
Although there are problems with documentary, such as bias reporting which can lead to social problems, it is still very popular today and has produced revolutonary films such as Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine and D.A Penny Bakers with Don't Look Back.
Now Documentaries are popular when merged with television, creating shows like 'supersize me' and reality TV which in its contemporary sense, documents celebrity or luxury life, or is infused with gameshows to create programmes like 'Big brother' or 'Americas next top model'.