History Main / FauxDocumentary

* Creator/ChristianBale's storyline in the surrealist Music/BobDylan biopic Film/ImNotThere is done in the form of a documentary.

* ''ComicBook/WestCoastAvengers2018'': The team has no money, so they allowed a camera crew to film a reality show in their base. This leads to frequent "interviews" to the characters, ''Series/ModernFamily''-style. This is mocked at one point: the base is overrun by villains, and when things get back to normal one of them asks the camera where had they been during the attack.

* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'', as the SpiritualSuccessor of ''Series/TheOfficeUS'', takes that show's use of the {{Mockumentary}} format, with characters occasionally glancing at the camera and cutting away to talking-head interviews. Unlike ''The Office'', however, the show never explicitly acknowledges that there is a documentary being filmed.

* ''Film/DistrictNine'' starts out as a mockumentary, with characters addressing the camera and performing talking-head interviews. Midway through the film, however, the format shifts to a traditional narrative, then returns to some additional talking-head interviews at the end.

* ''ComicBook/WestCoastAvengers2018'': The team has no money, so they allowed a camera crew to film a reality show in there. This leads to frequent "interviews" to the characters, ''Series/ModernFamily''-style. This is mocked at one point: the base is overrun by villains, and when things get back to normal one of them asks the camera where had they been during the attack.

* ''Series/WandaVision'' parodies sitcoms of several decades. Episode 7, ''[[Recap/WandaVisionEpisode7BreakingTheFourthWall "Breaking the Fourth Wall"]], parodies ''Series/ModernFamily'' by using interviews to the lead characters.

* ''Series/TheMuppets'' (2015 series) is one. It's even lampshaded - twice in one episode Kermit had what looked like a ConfessionCam at first glance, but was actually him talking to an offscreen character who thought it was just a confession segment.

A sister to the DocumentaryEpisode, the FauxToGuide, the {{Mockumentary}} and the {{Found Footage Film|s}}, the Faux Documentary borrows trappings from traditional documentaries - [[JitterCam shaky cameras]], narrators, [[ConfessionCam on-camera interviews with characters]] - but doesn't commit fully to a documentary format.

* ''Film/{{United 93}}'' was filmed as though it were a documentary. The production staff went so far as to isolate each of the three major sets and run each one in real-time as though the events of the day were really unfolding in front of two wandering steadicams.

'''Nick:''' You got a whole ''*points to camera*'' documentary crew following you around.

* Dugald Steer's Literature/OlogySeries, including ''Dragonology'', ''Monsterology'', ''Vampireology'', and so forth.

* ''Series/KathAndKim''

* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'', as the SpiritualSuccessor of ''Series/TheOffice'', takes that show's use of the {{Mockumentary}} format, with characters occasionally glancing at the camera and cutting away to talking-head interviews. Unlike ''The Office'', however, the show never explicitly acknowledges that there is a documentary being filmed.

* WebVideo/MarbleHornets is a series of videos posted on Youtube and is played like things that actually happen, no camera crew just one guy. It also contains some FoundFootage segments.

* ''Film/ImStillHere'', a documentary about Creator/JoaquinPhoenix's years-long CreatorBreakdown and foray into hip-hop music was revealed as a fake a few days (and many poor reviews) after its premier, and that everyone, including Ceator/DavidLetterman, was in on it.

* Variant: Both ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' and the revamped ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' were deliberately filmed in ShakyCam style to evoke a "documentary" feel. The effect of combining fairly good-looking CGI with live action footage that is constantly moving, on a TV budget - for example any scenes of "digital paper" or many computer consoles in ''Firefly'' especially the episode ''Serenity, Part 1'', which features the effect everywhere from the computer screen at the Persephone docks to the police bulletin Badger waves at the crew - was actually pioneered by ''Firefly'' back in 2002, with Joss Whedon even going so far as to seek out old camera lenses to get lens flares in the footage. BSG's producers have noted that they liked the idea and (given the show's decent SpecialEffects budget) decided to copy it, though they use it with far, far less subtlety. Most ''Firefly'' viewers seem to never really notice it until it's pointed out and the colors were generally as rich as other one-camera shows like ''Series/TheWestWing'', but in BSG it's immediately noticeable from the deliberate "zooming and refocusing" effects and much starker lighting. Whether this is to the latter series' detriment or not seems to be a matter of opinion, with some complaining about the jerkiness and others praising it for the "gritty" feel it gives the show.

* ''Series/{{Frontline}}'' has hand-held footage, with grainy-looking picture quality. It puports to be exactly what happens behind the scenes of a news programme. The presence of a camera crew is never acknowledged, however.
** Creator/{{PBS}} actually has a LongRunner documentary series called ''Frontline''.

* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' uses some of the tropes of the {{Mockumentary}}, namely the onscreen interviews with characters, but there's never any hint of a documentary crew in Pawnee, Indiana.

* Strangely enough, this seems to be the format for most "backstage" segments during many ProfessionalWrestling programs, which has led to many fan jokes about the "ninja cameraman".

->'''Deacon:''' The neighbors can see you flying around the house. You want to draw attention to his house, hm?\\
'''Nick:''' You got a whole... documentary crew following you around.