Actuality film is a non-fiction film genre that uses footage of real events, places, and things (essentially B-roll), a predecessor to documentary film. Unlike documentaries, actuality films are not structured into a larger narrative or coherent whole. During the era of early cinema, actualities—usually lasting no more than a minute or two and usually assembled together into a program by an exhibitor—were just as popular and prominent as their fictional counterparts.[1] The line between "fact" and "fiction" was not as prominent in early cinema as it would become once documentaries became the predominant non-fiction filmmaking form. Actuality as a film genre is related to still photography.
Although actuality films largely ceased production around 1908, the term "actuality footage" is sometimes used in documentary production to refer to the raw footage.
- ^ "The Actuality Film". Before and After the Great Earthquake and Fire: Early Films of San Francisco, 1897 to 1916. Library of Congress.