Genre Research

2. What is a Documentary?
 A factual film or programme about the real world
 Conventionally a documentary will be one of the following
types;
For us this will be CYBERBULLYING, a real world issue
Non- Fiction We will do this one !!!!!
About the real world
Unstaged
Based on Observation rather than Intervention
Informative and Educational

3. Subjectivity or Objectivity
SubjectivityObjectivity
• Subjectivity is when your opinion
will show through in the
documentary and the general
opinion or stereotype
1. We believe we will be swayed more
to being subjective as there is only
one view on cyber bullying and that
is that it is wrong and needs to be
stopped.
Objectivity is when you explore both
sides of an argument in the
documentary and not just one side.
1. However it could be said that we will
be Objective as we will look at the
effects of cyber bullying and why
people do it. So we are technically
looking at both sides of an
argument. However one aide clearly
is in favour.

4. Modes of Documentary
1. Expository Documentary
2. Observational Documentary
3. Participatory Documentary
4. Reflexive Documentary
5. Performative Documentary
Our
Documentary
will fall under
this category.

5. Bill Nicholas
•Identifier of the modes of address- ALL 6 OFTHEM
•Key theorist when discussing Documentaries
•Born – 1942
•Discovered theory at San Francisco University
•Stella Bruzzi2000criticsedNichols for suggesting that Documentary makers
have aimed for the 'perfect representation of the real’ and would fail in this
impossible aim, thus undermining the documentary form.
•She said that‘all types of documentary have existed at different times’
And have often, mixed styles. ‘What is the point of worrying about authenticity’
She sees documentary as contributing to meaning about real world events.

6. Development of Modes
 Nicholas identifies the modes as developing
chronologically.
 They develop because of new technologies, institutions
and audience.
 They can often be divided into 2 groups;
GROUPA
-Expository
-Observational
GROUP B
- Participatory
-Reflexive
-Performative

7. Expository Documentary
 This type of documentary is probably the most familiar to
audiences and tends to be seen more onTV rather than in
cinemas.
 It may include the following
AIM =To inform the audience about a happening or a thing
which they are not familiar with in our case it will be
CYBERBULLYING
Voiceover narration
Commenting on the images
Explaining what is happening in a direct address to the audience

8. Expository Conventions
1. Voiceover addresses the audience directly and is the
dominant convention
2. The voiceover may be aVOICE OF GOD commentator (
heard but not seen ) orVOICE OF AUTHORITY
commentator ( seen and heard)- usually an expert in the
field. We have chosen to use theVOICE OF GOD as we
believe this is most suitable for our topic.

9. Expository Conventions
3. Images are used to illustrate the voiceover
4. Direct relationship between voiceover and images shown
5. Editing is used for continuity, to link together the images
supporting the argument put forward by the voiceover
6. A variety of footage, interviews, stills and archive
material are assembled to support the argument.
7. There is an attempt to persuade the audience on a
viewpoint, in our case we are persuading the bullies to
stop and the bullied to contact the NSPCC.

10. John Grierson
-Although only making one film John was a film maker
-His theory on documentaries has greatly influenced what we
still understand to be its nature.
-He defined documentary as“ an instrument of information, education and
propaganda”. He believed that documentaries could heavily influence peoples
opinions on a situation.
-He defined the ideology of social integration as “good propaganda” and ideologies
that promoted social division as “ propaganda of the devil”.
-He believed it could be used to engage citizens in the workings of their country, in
democracy.

11. The End