Worksheet for a Documentary or Nonfiction Television Show
To create an effective piece of nonfiction the filmmaker needs to be persuasive.
Read the questions before you watch the program so that you will have the questions in mind while
watching. At breaks during the program or at the end, make short notes in the spaces provided. You do not
need to take notes and no grade will be given on the notes. If you take notes while the program is playing,
make sure that your note taking doesn’t interfere with carefully watching the program. Some students find
it best not to take any notes until the program is over.
Complete the assignment by addressing the following prompts in complete paragraphs on a separate paper.
Be sure the question can be found in the first sentence of the answer. You may use more than one
paragraph if necessary to provide a complete response.
1. Give a brief summary of the program, including the date or time it aired if you watched it at home, the
subject of the program and its basic premise or theme.
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2. Identify what matters in the program such as important characters, places, events, or aspects of people,
society, or nature. Describe and clarify the significance of each.
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3. List six facts described in the program that most impressed you and explain how these facts relate to its
basic premise or theme.
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4. Nonfiction can enrich viewers in several important ways. Explain three aspects of the program that
showed you something that you hadn’t seen before, caused you to think in a new way, or helped you
understand something more thoroughly than before.
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5. Was anything that you saw in the program unconvincing or seemed out of place?
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6. Music and lighting are part of the way that the makers of the show communicate their message. Go
deeper than that. Give two specific examples of how other elements of the cinematic art, such as shot
framing, camera angles, camera movement, color, editing choice, or length of take were used by the
filmmakers to get their point across.
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7. If someone asked you whether or not you recommended this program, how would you respond? Fully
explain your reasons.
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8. If the producer of this program came to you and asked how it could be improved, what would you tell
them? Describe your reasons in detail.
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