Mockumentary

A mockumentary (a portmanteau of the words mock and documentary) is a type of film or television show in which fictional events are presented in documentary style to create a parody. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictional setting, or to parody the documentary form itself. They may be either comedic or dramatic in form, although comedic mockumentaries are more common. A dramatic mockumentary (sometimes referred to as docufiction) should not be confused with docudrama, a fictional genre in which dramatic techniques are combined with documentary elements to depict real events.

Mockumentaries are often presented as historical yet witty documentaries, with B roll and talking heads discussing past events, or as cinéma vérité pieces following people as they go through various events. Though the precise origins of the genre are not known, examples emerged during the 1950s, when archival film footage became relatively easy to locate. A very early example was a short piece on the "Swiss Spaghetti Harvest" that appeared as an April fools' joke on the British television program Panorama in 1957.

Dorm Life

Dorm Life is a mockumentary web series created by former students of UCLA. It follows the fictional lives of the inhabitants of the college dorm floor 5 South. It is produced by Attention Span Media, a Los Angeles based social media studio and is a 2008 Webby Honoree for Best Writing and Comedy: Individual Short or Episode. Dorm Life is also Hulu's most watched web show.

After a successful first season, Dorm Life returned for a second season with sponsor Carl's Jr..

Overview

The fictional show is made in the form of a documentary that purports to record the lives of actual college freshmen. It takes place almost entirely within their dorm floor, 5 South. Each character has a webcam for the purpose of individual reflection or addresses to the audience. There are also separate webcam clips aside from those of the main episodes, as well as profiles maintained by each character on the website's "community lounge," with interactions between them and with fans on the website's forum.

Cast

Jack DeSena

Jack Patrick De Sena (born John Patrick DeSena; December 6, 1987, in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American screen and voice actor. He is best known for his work on the sketch comedy series All That, having joined the show's cast at the start of its 7th season in 2001 (he tied with Logan Lerman for the 2005 Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) - Leading Young Actor for All That).

Biography

His family moved to Irvine, California in 1999 and he attended school there. He was a very active member of the international ComedySportz troupe (a comic improvisation team that participates in games as seen on Whose Line is it Anyway?). He also did voice work for the character of Sokka on the Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender, where he rapidly gained recognition for his skilled and clever ad-libbing.

De Sena worked on the online mockumentary web series Dorm Life, a 2008 Webby Honoree for Best Writing and Comedy: Individual Short or Episode. De Sena appeared on an episode of King of the Hill, "Luanne Gets Lucky." De Sena has also appeared in an episode of Generator Rex, "Crash and Burn." In 2012, De Sena appeared on the Hulu original series Battleground. In 2013, he appeared as the judge of the texting competition and later as an airport investigator on the Nickelodeon sitcom Sam & Cat. In 2014, he voiced Robin in the animated film JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time. He is also known as "Mr. Roberts" in the tv series 100 Things to Do Before High School, starting in 2014.

Nora Kirkpatrick

Nora Kirkpatrick (born December 6, 1984) is an American actress and musician.

Career

Kirkpatrick graduated from UCLA in 2007 with a degree in Theatre Film and Television. She is probably best known for her role as Katherine, the stern president of Panhellenic, on the ABC Family TV series Greek. Before Greek she worked on another college themed show, the popular mockumentary web series called Dorm Life, where she played Courtney Cloverlock. She had a recurring role on the ninth season of The Office as Esther Bruegger, a neighboring farmer's daughter who becomes Dwight's girlfriend. She formerly played accordion in the band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

Filmography

References

External links