What is the biggest difference between documentary and feature film?

In the book Modern TV Documentary, Professor Zhu Yujun vividly compares the difference between documentary and feature film to "a difficult book to read", which is a fact. Regarding the distinction between documentary films and feature films, there have been great differences between domestic and foreign film and television circles. There is no accepted answer so far.

The word documentary originated from movies and is an adjective in English. John Grierson, an Englishman, first used this word in 1926. After seeing a film of Mohana filmed by filmmaker Robert Flaherty in the United States, he published a film review in The Sun in the United States, thinking that the film has the value of "documentary".

Later, some movies like Mohana and the similar Nanuk in the north were gradually crowned as "documentaries". ?

"Feature film" is a term with China characteristics (similar movies in the west are called "propaganda"). The biggest feature of feature films is the obvious involvement of the creator's subjective consciousness, and general feature films will show distinct themes, pertinence, publicity and purpose. ?

The creation of "Looking at the Great Wall" is a vivid example of the transformation from the concept of feature film creation to the concept of documentary creation. Originally, the film crew hired several screenwriters as screenwriters, and they also wrote plays. Finally, the director gave up the script and wrote a simple outline to shoot. Giving up the script is essentially giving up the intervention of subjective consciousness, which means the change of creative concept.

The change of creative concept has caused the change of working style. The change of work style has created the final style of the work. A landmark documentary was born. This is the real awakening of China's documentary TV narrative to get rid of the narrative of language symbols.

Extended data

It is almost impossible to strictly define the boundaries between documentaries and feature films. For example, 1997, CCTV local station planned and organized local stations to jointly produce 30 episodes of large-scale series "China Family" and 1998, and local stations planned and organized 50 episodes of large-scale series "China People". It is difficult to classify these films.

However, since there are different names such as "documentary" and "feature film" in creative practice, it shows that there are still differences between the two.