2. What is a documentary?
• A documentary is a non-fictional film that captures reality and factual information to
educate the audience.
• Documentary filmmakers are often motivated to make their films because they feel a
particular story or viewpoint is not being covered by mainstream media.
• There are various types of documentaries such as:
• Poetic
• Expository
• Observational
• Participatory
• Reflexive
• Performative
• Front-line
3. Poetic Mode
• Experimental sub-genre of documentaries
• Usually has music and often very simplistic
• Emphasises visual aspects, tonal or rhythmic qualities,
descriptive passages and formal organisation favours
mood, tone and texture.
4. Expository
• Voice over, the narrator is describing what is happening
during this shot.
• Nature documentaries are expository with people like:
• David Attenborough
5. Observatory
• Observes the world around them, gives a first hand
experience in what happens in the world
• Doesn’t have a narrator
• Often shaky footage as the camera man is rushing to
keep up with the action because nothing is staged.
• The filmmaker remains hidden behind the camera and
is ignored by the surroundings environment, they are
just there to film and doesn’t influence what is
happening
6. Participatory
• Camera is usually hand held
• The talent often talks to the camera man
• Direct engagement between filmmaker and subjects, so
therefore the filmmaker becomes part of the events
being recorded, being acknowledged.
8. Performative
• Documentary that consists of interviews
• Acknowledging the subjective reading of the audience -
notions of objectivity are replaced by "evocation and
affect".
