Documentary Formats

What is a documentary?

A documentary is a factual "Non-Fiction" reputation of a subject portraying a visual evidence of a particular subject. Documentary are often a way for a film maker to portray a bias representation of their ideology or views of a particular subject.

Expository:

A expository documentary is filmed with shots to emphasize what the constant voice over is saying, backing up the facts or description by whoever is narrating with images of the subject they are commenting on. These are generally wildlife or news programmes /documentary's, though the "Expository" documentary genre is not limited to wildlife. The film maker is not involved in what is happening. For example, David Attenborough is famous for making Expository Documentary's, such as "Planet Earth" and "Life".



Observational:

An observational documentary, like the expository documentary, never shows the interaction of the film maker, and focus's on the impact of the interviews and what the interviews contain and how they represent what happens normally everyday to the people in the documentary. For example, "Brat Camp" shows a army like regime that is used to try and change teenagers and young adults behaviors so they are more productive and safer to the community. You never see the interviewer/filmmaker, you only see/hear the responses from the people involved or see footage of what they do.

Brat Camp- An Example of Observational Documentary Filming from Luke Atkinson on Vimeo.

Interactive:

Unlike the previous genre's of documentary, an interactive documentary is as much about the film maker as it is the subject, meaning that the film maker is in the shot when he is interacting with someone in the interview. We see their reaction to what the interviewee answered, and we hear what the interviewer's questions are in full. The interviewer will constantly push his argument/opinion on a subject to get answers they want to get. Also, the video itself will be edited to portray a biased opinion of the situation. Due to this these types of documentary are often slated for being a misrepresentation or even "lies".




Reflexive:

A Reflexive Documentary shows shots of everyday life, often leaving lengths of a shot which would have been cut in other films,

Performative:

A Performative documentary