Fly on the wall is a style of documentary-making used in film and television production. The name derived from the idea that events are seen candidly, as a fly on a wall might see them. In the purest form of fly-on-the-wall documentary-making, the camera crew works as unobtrusively as possible; however, it is also common for participants to be interviewed, often by an off-camera voice. [1]
Decades before structured reality shows became popular, the BBC had broadcast fly-on-the-wall film Royal Family (a 1969 documentary produced in association with ITV), [2] [3] [4] while 1974's The Family, is said to be the earliest example of a reality TV docusoap on the BBC. [5] [6] [7] [8] In 1978 the BBC aired Living in the Past recreating a British Iron Age settlement. In the late 1990s, Chris Terrill's docusoap series The Cruise [9] [10] [11] made a star of singer [12] and TV personality Jane McDonald, [13] [14] [15] while Welsh cleaner Maureen Rees [16] became popular after her appearances on BBC One's [17] Driving School. [18]
Other British examples include Dynamo: Magician Impossible and Channel 4's Educating... series, while in the United States popular examples include American Factory, Cops, Deadliest Catch, Big Brother and Weiner, a film about a political sex scandal which developed during a mayoral election in New York. [19]
Fly on the wall is a style of documentary-making used in film and television production. The name derived from the idea that events are seen candidly, as a fly on a wall might see them. In the purest form of fly-on-the-wall documentary-making, the camera crew works as unobtrusively as possible; however, it is also common for participants to be interviewed, often by an off-camera voice. [1]
Decades before structured reality shows became popular, the BBC had broadcast fly-on-the-wall film Royal Family (a 1969 documentary produced in association with ITV), [2] [3] [4] while 1974's The Family, is said to be the earliest example of a reality TV docusoap on the BBC. [5] [6] [7] [8] In 1978 the BBC aired Living in the Past recreating a British Iron Age settlement. In the late 1990s, Chris Terrill's docusoap series The Cruise [9] [10] [11] made a star of singer [12] and TV personality Jane McDonald, [13] [14] [15] while Welsh cleaner Maureen Rees [16] became popular after her appearances on BBC One's [17] Driving School. [18]
Other British examples include Dynamo: Magician Impossible and Channel 4's Educating... series, while in the United States popular examples include American Factory, Cops, Deadliest Catch, Big Brother and Weiner, a film about a political sex scandal which developed during a mayoral election in New York. [19]