Making Documentary Films - IELTS Reading Answers

Prity Mallick

14 min read

Updated On Feb 15, 2025

Aiming to score band 8+ in the IELTS Reading Section? Attempt the IELTS Academic Reading passage 'Making Documentary Films - IELTS Reading Answers' and level up your preparation with the tips and question types to familiarise yourself with the format.

Types of Questions in Making Documentary Films - IELTS Reading Answers
Tips to Attempt Making Documentary Films IELTS Reading Answers for a Band Score of 8+
Reading Passage - Making Documentary Films
Questions from Making Documentary Films- IELTS Reading Answers
Answers of Making Documentary Films - IELTS Reading Answers With Location and Explanations

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In the IELTS Reading, you are required to answer 40 questions in one hour. Therefore, it is essential to practice with tests like ‘Making Documentary Films - IELTS Reading Answers’ to enhance their knowledge as well as improve reading skills. Remember that with consistent practice, you will be able to achieve a band score of 8+ in the IELTS exam. However, time management skills are very crucial in IELTS Reading.

With the IELTS Academic Reading Passage on ‘Making Documentary Films - IELTS Reading Answers’, you will be able to examine your reading skills and note down the areas of improvement. It is ideal to do a targeted study and also use a stopwatch to be aware of the time taken to answer the questions. This will provide you with an opportunity to practice more and score better in the IELTS exam, even if you attend theIELTS General Reading Section.

Let’s get started now!

Types of Questions in Making Documentary Films - IELTS Reading Answers

Various question types are asked to test specific reading skills and some of them are given in Making Documentary Films IELTS Reading Answers. These question types are:

IELTS Reading Matching Headings (Q. 14-19)
IELTS Reading Matching Features (Q. 20-23)
IELTS Reading Summary Completion (Q. 24-26)

Want to learn more about Matching Headings type of question in IELTS Reading? Check out the video below!

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It is important to become familiar with different types of questions as each type would require different strategies to be used. Therefore, you must focus on the types of questions and then attempt full-length test papers to be aware of the Band Score in real time.

Grab the Comprehensive IELTS Reading (Academic) Band 8 Preparation Course and achieve a Band Score of 8+.

Tips to Attempt Making Documentary Films IELTS Reading Answers for a Band Score of 8+

Now that you have the answers and explanations for Making Documentary Films Reading Answers, let’s explore some IELTS exam preparation tips for answering the four question types. Remember that getting familiar with the strategies would help you achieve a band score of 8+.

Matching Headings:

You must match the heading in this type of question to the appropriate paragraph or reading segment in the text to score a high IELTS band score. Your ability to figure out the paragraph’s key concept and its supporting ideas will be put to the test.

Take your time to rephrase the potential headings’ keywords.
Find the main idea from the paragraphs by using IELTS Reading keyword techniques. Sometimes the essential idea of the paragraph is expressed in the header.
For clarification on the paragraph’s main idea, see the first and last sentences. Likewise, quickly scan the middle of the paragraph to make sure you comprehend it.
Don’t try to match words. Your primary goal is to match a correct paragraph.
Choose the heading that best fits the paragraph after reading it again if two seem to be appropriate.
The number of headings will always be greater than the number of paragraphs or sections. Therefore, some headings will never be utilized.

Matching Features:

In this type of question, you will have to match a list of options with the relevant set of statements. Some tips to answer matching features questions and obtain a high band in the IELTS exam are given below:

Read questions and underline or circle keywords. This will help you find out where you would have to read and find later. Also, focus on how often every detail or name is appearing in the passage.
Scan the passage and look for information given in the features and questions.
Skim through the areas that are surrounded by keywords and features in the passage.
Don’t get confused in case the text has synonyms of the information that is originally present in the question.
Keep in mind that answers will not be in an order as questions.

Summary Completion:

Summary Completion is a type of IELTS reading question that requires you to fill in a gap in a paragraph with a word or phrase from the passage. To answer summary completion questions, you can use the following IELTS Reading tips to increase reading speed:

Read the sentences carefully: This will give you an idea of the type of word or phrase that is missing.
Scan the passage for the keywords: The keywords in the sentence can help you to identify the correct word or phrase and understand the concept of Paraphrasing : Definition & Purpose.
Read the sentence with the missing word or phrase: This will help you to see how the word or phrase fits into the sentence.
Check your answer: Once you have filled in the gap, make sure that your answer makes sense in the context of the sentence.

Ideally, IELTS test-takers should take around 20 minutes to solve a passage like ‘Making Documentary Films’ in IELTS Academic Reading. Therefore, to master this skill, they need to take IELTS reading practice tests regularly.

Let’s see how easy this passage is for you and if you’re able to make it in 20 minutes.

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Reading Passage - Making Documentary Films

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on the Reading Passage below.

Making Documentary Films

A For much of the twentieth century, documentary films were overshadowed by their more successful Hollywood counterparts. For a number of reasons, documentaries were frequently ignored by critics and film studies courses at universities. Firstly, the very idea of documentary film made some people suspicious. As the critic Dr Helmut Fischer put it, ‘Documentary makers might have ambitions to tell the “truth” and show only “facts” but there is no such thing as a non-fiction film. That’s because, as soon as you record an incident on camera, you are altering its reality in a fundamental way’. Secondly, even supporters of documentaries could not agree on a precise definition, which did little to improve the reputation of the genre. Lastly, there were also concerns about the ethics of filming subjects without their consent, which is a necessity in many documentary films.

B None of this prevented documentaries from being produced, though exactly when the process started is open to question. It is often claimed that Nanook of the North was the first documentary. Made by the American filmmaker Robert J. Flaherty in 1922, the film depicts the hard, sometimes heroic lives of native American peoples in the Canadian Arctic. Nanook of the North is said to have set off a trend that continued though the 1920s with the films of Dziga Vertov in the Soviet Union and works by other filmmakers around the world. However, that 1922 starting point has been disputed by supporters of an earlier date. Among this group is film historian Anthony Berwick, who argues that the genre can be traced back as early as 1895, when similar films started to appear, including newsreels, scientific films and accounts of journeys of exploration.

C In the years following 1922, one particular style of documentary started to appear. These films adopted a serious tone while depicting the lives of actual people. Cameras were mounted on tripods and subjects rehearsed and repeated activities for the purposes of the film. British filmmaker John Grierson was an important member of this group. Grierson’s career lasted nearly 40 years, beginning with Drifters (1929) and culminating with | Remember, | Remember (1968). However, by the 1960s Grierson’s style of film was being rejected by the Direct Cinema movement, which wanted to produce more natural and authentic films: cameras were hand-held; no additional lighting or sound was used; and the subjects did not rehearse. According to film writer Paula Murphy, the principles and methods of Direct Cinema brought documentaries to the attention of universities and film historians as never before. Documentaries started to be recognized as a distinct genre worthy of serious scholarly analysis.

D Starting in the 1980s, the widespread availability of first video and then digital cameras transformed filmmaking. The flexibility and low cost of these devices meant that anyone could now be a filmmaker. Amateurs working from home could compete with professionals in ways never possible before. The appearance of online film-sharing platforms in the early 2000s only increased the new possibilities for amateur documentaries were being made, perhaps the most popular documentary of 2006 was still the professionally made An Inconvenient Truth. New cameras and digital platforms revolutionised the making of films. But as critic Maria Fiala has pointed out, “The arguments sometimes put forward that these innovations immediately transformed what the public expected to see in a documentary isn’t entirely accurate”.

E However, a new generation of documentary filmmakers then emerged, and with them came a new philosophy of the genre. These filmmakers moved away from highlighting political themes or urgent social issues. Instead the focus moved inwards, exploring personal lives, relationships and emotions. It could be argued that Catfish (2010) was a perfect example of this new trend. The film chronicles the everyday lives and interactions of the social media generation and was both a commercial and critical success. Filmmaker Josh Camberwell maintains that Catfish embodies a new realization that documentaries are inherently subjective and that this should be celebrated. Says Camberwell, it is a requirement for documentary makers to express a particular viewpoint and give personal responses to the material they are recording.

F The popularity and variety of documentaries today is illustrated by the large number of film festivals focusing on the genre around the world. The biggest of all must be the Hot Docs Festival in Canada, which over the years has showcased hundreds of documentaries from more than 50 different countries. Even older is the Hamburg International Short Film Festival. As its name suggests, Hamburg specializes in short films, but one category takes this to its limits – entries may not exceed three minutes in duration. The Short and Sweet Festival is a slightly smaller event held in Utah, USA. The small size of the festival means that for first timers this is the ideal venue to try to get some recognition for their films. Then there is the Atlanta Shortsfest, which is a great event for a wide variety of filmmakers. Atlanta welcomes all established types of documentaries and recognises the growing popularity of animations, with a category specifically for films of this type. These are just a few of the scores of film festivals on offer, and there are more being established every year. All in all, it has never been easier for documentary makers to get their films in front of an audience.

Questions from Making Documentary Films- IELTS Reading Answers

Questions 14-19

The Reading Passage has six paragraphs, A-F.

Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.

Select the correct number, i-vill, in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i A contrast between two historic approaches to documentary filmmaking

ii Disagreement between two individual documentary makers

iii A wide range of opportunities to promote documentary filmmaking

iv A number of criticisms about all documentary filmmaking in the past

v One film that represented a fresh approach to documentary filmmaking

vi Some probable future trends in documentary filmmaking

vii The debate about the origins of documentary filmmaking

viii The ability of ordinary people to create documentary films for the first time

14 Paragraph A

15 Paragraph B

16 Paragraph C

17 Paragraph D

18 Paragraph E

19 Paragraph F

Questions 20-23

Look at the statements (Questions 20-23) and the list of people below.

Select the correct letter, A-E, in boxes 20-23 on your answer sheet.

Match each statement with the correct person, A-E.

List of People

A Dr Helmut Fischer

B Anthony Berwick

C Paula Murphy

D Maria Fiala

E Josh Camberwell

20 The creation of some new technologies did not change viewers’ attitudes towards documentaries as quickly as is sometimes proposed.

21 One set of beliefs and techniques helped to make documentary films academically respectable.

22 The action of putting material on film essentially changes the nature of the original material.

23 Documentary filmmakers have an obligation to include their own opinions about and analysis of the real events that they show in their films.

Questions 24-26

Complete the summary below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

FILM FESTIVALS

There are many festivals for documentary makers. For example, Canada’s Hot Docs festival has screened documentaries from more than 50 countries. Meanwhile, the Hamburg Short Film Festival lives up to its name by accepting films no more than 24 …………………………….. long in one of its categories. The Short and Sweet Film Festival is especially good for documentary makers who are 25 …………………………… . And the Atlanta Shortsfest accepts numerous forms of documentaries including 26 ……………………………, which are becoming more common.

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That’s the end of the test! How was it? Now, it’s time to dive into checking the answers of Making Documentary films - IELTS Reading Answers. Let’s check them together!

Answers of Making Documentary Films - IELTS Reading Answers With Location and Explanations

Let’s go through the answers and detailed explanations of each question in the Making Documentary Films passage and prepare to get a high IELTS band score.

Question	Answer	Location	Explanation
14	iv	Paragraph A, line 1 – line 3	The selected lines says that “Also, household waste has grown at a rate of 3% a year as a consequence of society becoming more affluent and thus consuming more goods, resulting in more rubbish to discard.” This tells us that the first paragraph discusses a number of criticisms about all documentary filmmaking in the past like the idea of documentary film creating suspicions, no precise definition and concerns about the ethics of filming subjects without the consent of the subject. Hence the answer is iv.
15	vii	Paragraph B, line 2 line 3 & line 6 – line 7	The line of Paragraph B, it is said that “For many years, the preferred option for refuse disposal in Britain has been the landfill. ” Further, this line- However, that 1922 starting point has been disputed by supporters of an earlier date. – supports the fact that this paragraph discussed a number of criticisms about all documentary filmmaking in the past. Hence the answer is vii.
16	i	Paragraph C, line 1 & line 6 – line 7	The first line of the paragraph says that “In the years following 1922, one particular style of documentary started to appear.” Later in the paragraph, it is given – “However, by the 1960s Grierson’s style of film was being rejected by the Direct Cinema movement, which wanted to produce more natural and authentic films:….” These sentences point out that a contrast between two historic approaches to documentary filmmaking have been discussed in the paragraph. Hence the answer is i.
17	viii	Paragraph D, line 4- line 6	In the specified line, it is stated that “The appearance of online film-sharing platforms in the early 2000s only increased the new possibilities for amateur documentaries were being made, perhaps the most popular documentary of 2006 was still the professionally made An Inconvenient Truth.” In other words, with the advancement in cameras and availability in online sharing platforms, the ability of ordinary people to create documentary films for the first time boomed. Hence, the answer is viii.
18	v	Paragraph E, line 3- line 6	The mentioned lines from Paragraph E says that “Instead the focus moved inwards, exploring personal lives, relationships and emotions. It could be argued that Catfish (2010) was a perfect example of this new trend. The film chronicles the everyday lives and interactions of the social media generation and was both a commercial and critical success.” It is clear that the one film that represented a fresh approach to documentary filmmaking is Catfish. Hence the answer is v.
19	iii	Paragraph F, line 1- line 2	The introduction line of Paragraph F says that “The popularity and variety of documentaries today is illustrated by the large number of film festivals focusing on the genre around the world.” As it is clear that the film festivals gave a wide range of opportunities to promote documentary filmmaking, the answer is iii.
20	D	Paragraph D, line 7 – line 9	The specified lines states that “But as critic Maria Fiala has pointed out, “The arguments sometimes put forward that these innovations immediately transformed what the public expected to see in a documentary isn’t entirely accurate”.” So, it is clear that Maria Fiala was of the idea that the creation of some new technologies or innovations did not change viewers’ attitudes (what the public expected to see) towards documentaries as quickly as is sometimes proposed. Hence the answer is D.
21	C	Paragraph C, line 9 – line 11	The following lines from Paragraph C says that “According to film writer Paula Murphy, the principles and methods of Direct Cinema brought documentaries to the attention of universities and film historians as never before. Documentaries started to be recognized as a distinct genre worthy of serious scholarly analysis.” It states that Paula Murphy was of the opinion that one set of beliefs and techniques, that is the Direct Cinema, helped to make documentary films academically respectable (worthy of serious scholarly analysis). Hence the answer is C.
22	A	Paragraph A, line 4 – line 6	The relevant lines says that “As the critic Dr Helmut Fischer put it, ‘Documentary makers might have ambitions to tell the “truth” and show only “facts” but there is no such thing as a non-fiction film. That’s because, as soon as you record an incident on camera, you are altering its reality in a fundamental way’. ” From this line, we can conclude that Dr Helmut Fischer did say that the action of putting material on film (record an incident on camera) essentially changes the nature of the original material (fundamental way). Hence the answer is A.
23	E	Paragraph E, line 8 – line 9	The provided lines says that “Says Camberwell, it is a requirement for documentary makers to express a particular viewpoint and give personal responses to the material they are recording.” As it is clear from the statement that Josh Camberwall was of the view that documentary filmmakers have an obligation to include their own opinions about and analysis of the real events that they show in their films, the answer is E.
24	3 minutes/ three minutes	Paragraph F, line 4 – line 6	The given line says that “As its name suggests, Hamburg specializes in short films, but one category takes this to its limits – entries may not exceed three minutes in duration.” This statement points out that the Hamburg Short Film Festival lives up to its name by accepting films no more than three minutes long in one of its categories. Hence the answer is 3 minutes/three minutes.
25	1st timers/ first timers	Paragraph F, line 6 – line 8	The following lines from Paragraph F says that “The Short and Sweet Festival is a slightly smaller event held in Utah, USA. The small size of the festival means that for first timers this is the ideal venue to try to get some recognition for their films.” From this reference, we can conclude that the Short and Sweet Film Festival is especially good for documentary makers who are first timers as the size of the festival is small. Hence the answer is 1st timers/ first timers.
26	animations	Paragraph F, line 10 – line 12	The specified lines state that “Atlanta welcomes all established types of documentaries and recognises the growing popularity of animations, with a category specifically for films of this type.” It means that the Atlanta Shortsfest accepts numerous forms of documentaries including animations, which are becoming more common (growing popularity). Hence the answer is animations.

Did you get the answers? Don’t stop here and take a step forward and continue this momentum. With diligent practice, you will not only improve your skills in reading but also build confidence along the way. Let’s check out a few more to enhance your knowledge and skills to achieve a band score of 8+ in the IELTS test.

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