Christopher Guest is best known for writing mockumentaries such as 'This is Spinal Tap' and 'Best in show'. Although his documentaries are perceived to mock people he believes that his movies do not mock and instead they are character studies of "people who become so obsessed by their world that they lose sense and awareness of how they appear to other people." However, Christopher Guests characters are never very good at what they do, and yet they take themselves very seriously, which is the basis of the comedy in his mockumentaries.
Guest uses the same actors in each of his mockumentaries because they are able to respond spontaneously to unscripted dialogue but still stay in character. The movies are almost completely unscripted and improvised. This unscripted improvisation is one of the large factors that give Guest's films their documentary feel because the reactions and expressions of the actors are not rehearsed. Guest uses a range of mock interviews, handheld camera, and footage of events to give the films their documentary feel. The seriousness of the mock interviews and the footage of the characters fully immersed in their hobbies underscore both the humour and humanness in the characters. The comedy in his films come naturally from the situations the characters find themselves in and their reactions to those situations.
