This document discusses the different modes or styles of documentary filmmaking. It identifies and provides examples for several modes: expository, observational, participatory, reflexive, poetic, and performative. Observational documentaries aim for cinematic realism using available light and small cameras to create films with a fly-on-the-wall perspective. Reflexive documentaries make audiences question assumptions by acknowledging the filmmaker's role. Poetic documentaries emphasize visuals over narrative to create an impression through techniques like shot design and rhythm in editing.

2. The "Why We Fight“ propaganda film series that ran from 1942-43
introduced by the government to explain U.S. involvement in World War II
were made in standard expository style. Other examples include current
affairs docs made for "60 Minutes," certain History Channel programs and
nature films like "The Blue Planet." The historical documentaries of Ken
Burns--"Mark Twain" (2001); "The Dust Bowl" (2012)--also fall into the
expository category.

3. Observational documentary is probably the most analysed mode of them all,
it is also referred to as cinema verite, direct cinema or fly-on-the-wall
documentary. Observational docs aim for “cinematic realism”. The pure
realism produced by actuality filmmakers of the 1960s and 70s was done
through advanced tech made ten years earlier: faster lenses for shooting in
low-light conditions and smaller cameras that could now be handheld. A
very low-key crew of two could shoot almost anywhere with available light
and create documentaries with realism and actuality. Up until then, big film
production gear required expensive technology setups
Boston director Frederick
Wiseman, known as ‘the master of
observational cinema’, is known
for his ground-breaking studies of
institutions and big social issues--
"High School" (1968); "Public
Housing" (1997).

4. The participatory mode aims for instant involvement and often demonstrates
the filmmaker's point of view. Bill Nichols describes participatory documentary
as "the encounter between filmmaker and subject is recorded and the
filmmaker actively engages with the situation they are documenting."
Examples include "Chronicle of a Summer" (Jean Rouche,
1960); "Approaching the Elephant" (Amanda Wilder, 2014);
"Sherman's March" (Ross McElwee, 1986); "Supersize Me"
(Morgan Spurlock, 2004)

5. Reflexive mode documentaries make audiences "question genuineness of
documentary in general," writes Bill Nichols. This engages the audience
more. Reflexive docs challenge assumptions and expectations. In "Gardens," a
film about two nervous, shy and strange relatives of Jackie Onassis, the
filmmakers are part of the action because the two subjects, Big and Little Edie
Bouvier Beale, acknowledge their chroniclers in almost every scene.
Examples include
"Exit Through the Gift
Shop" (Banksy, 2010)
& "The Spaghetti
Story" (BBC, 1957)

6. Poetic mode documentaries aim to create an impression or a mood rather than argue
a point. The poetic form, also called the “abstract” or “avant-garde”, can be traced
back to the popular City Symphony film movement of the 1920s, out of which came
classics like Walter Ruttmann's "Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis" (1927).
Filmmakers using this mode typically emphasize cinematic values over content to
create visual poetry. Shot design, composition and rhythm achieved in editing are
things expected from the genre. The narrative (if there is one) is expressed visually
rather than rhetorically. Dutch filmmaker Joris Iven's City Symphony classic "Rain"
(1929) is an example of the poetic style that shows how a rainstorm transforms the
Dutch metropolis Amsterdam
Examples include:
"Play of Light: Black, White, Grey"
(Laslo Moholy-Nagy, 1930);
"N.Y.,N.Y." (Francis Thomson, 1957);
"Sans Soled" (Sunless) (Chris Marker,
1983); "Koyaanisqatsi" (Godfrey
Reggio, 1982).

7. The performative mode of documentary is the opposite of the
observational where non subtle observation of the subject is the
director's aim. Performative documentary emphasizes the
filmmaker's own involvement with the subject. The filmmaker
shows a larger political or historical reality through the window
of personal experience. Rather than rely on the expository
approach, the performative filmmaker becomes a personal guide
who shows it and tells it like it is with raw emotion.
Examples include:
"Night And Fog" (Alain Resnais, 1955); "Paris Is
Burning" (Jenny Livingston, 1991); "Forest of Bliss"
(Robert Gardner, 1986)