The term "documentary" carries with it an inherent expectation of a realistic representation of that which it documents, but of course, there are editorial decisions to be made that balance faithfulness to the subject matter with practical considerations. Go behind the scenes to see just what that means for the journey from raw footage to your television screen.
In this video from DSLRguide, Simon Cade shows how editors must balance creating engaging storytelling that draws viewers in with appropriately representing the reality of what they capture by examining BBC's popular "Planet Earth" series. As he points out, in addition to creating dramatic arcs, there are very practical issues as well, anything from the need for a degree of brevity to the fact that it's probably not advisable to put a boom operator next to two fighting bears. There's also the issue of the anthropomorphization of animals, right down to the trope of hero/villain. It's an interesting watch, and it highlights what I imagine is a difficult balance for editors to achieve: audiences likely don't want to watch the real thing, but they want to feel as if they're watching the real thing.
[via PetaPixel]
That was pretty funny actually! I didn't realise so many sounds were faked but it makes sense now I see this and think about it. But then they make a good point with the whole storytelling thing.