Journal Issue:

Rundfunk und Geschichte. 2020 (3-4)

Today Raymond Ley is to be regarded the most productive author of German DocuDrama. However, to date media research has not yet dealt with his oeuvre. This text classifies Ley’s docudramatic work in the course of a comprehensive quantitative content analysis. In this study, the proportions of documentary material and reenactments, extradiegetic music, and the cutting frequency are examined. In addition, a closer look is taken at to what extent his films reveal the genre-characteristic techniques to the audience. Results show that Ley’s style is increasingly turning towards a fictionalized form of DocuDrama: Documentary material loses importance, while reenactment shares increase enormously; meanwhile, his films’ installations lose their enthusiasm for experimenting with different materials and sources. In addition, there is an evident dynamization given that shot lengths decrease over time, and massive shares of extradiegetic music remind more of fictional than documentary films. In many of his films, he neglects to make the staged elements transparent to the audience. The analysis of Raymond Ley’s DocuDramas shows that the genre increasingly abandons documentary material, which leads to the conclusion that some of his productions don’t deserve the designation “DocuDrama” – a genre that stands for a proper understanding of history and journalistic credibility. Ley’s younger films don’t meet these defaults anymore.