Just some documentary genre analysis.

1. Genre Analysis
Ryan Warburton

2. An Introduction to Documentaries
The purpose of a documentary is to document.
Documentaries
1919: Russian film-
maker Dzigo Vertov
issues a manifesto
criticising Soviet film
industry.
1920’s: European
filmmakers begin
to incorporate
avant garde
features that
report real life.
1922: Robert
Flaherty films
Nanook of the
North, generally
cited as the first
feature length
documentary.
1926: John Grierson
coins the term
‘Documentary’.
Leni Riefenstahl is
commissioned by Adolf Hitler to
film Nazi rally party of 1934.
Triumph of the Will is produced,
a landmark in documentary.
1950’s: Newly lightweight
cameras developed
1963: Abraham
Zapruder
captures JFK’s
assassination
on a home
movie camera

3. Types of Documentaries: Fully
Narrated
• Direct mode of address
• Use of screen voice over
• Most frequently used in nature documentaries
• Includes the ‘Voice Of God’ narrator

4. Fly on the Wall
• Relies heavily on observation
• Very little narration
• Captures massive amounts of footage and
then condenses it down into an hour or 2,
depending on how long the documentary lasts
for.

5. Mixed Documentaries
• Mixed documentaries tend to use features
from other types of documentaries. These
include:
• Interviews
• Observation
• Narration

6. Self Reflexive
• The narrator actually acknowledges the
camera and speaks directly at it.
• You can actually see the narrator
• This technique is used in documentaries such
as Ross Kemp and Ray Mears.

7. Documdrama
• Focuses on re-documenting the event,
possibly because of lack of witnesses.
• Quite far from the concept of reality
• Uses a lot of reconstructions
• A good example of this is Crimewatch

8. Docusoap
• Documents everyday life, eg, work life and
social life
• A good example of this is Benefits Street

9. Observation
• Observational documentaries are purely
observational, allowing the viewer to come to
their own conclusion about what is happening
in the documentary.

10. Interview
• The interview is a common technique in
documentary making. It allows people being
filmed to speak directly into the camera,
prompted by the questions asked by the
interviewer.

11. Dramatisation
• Dramatisations are often used in
documentaries to recreate a scene based on
evidence from the event.

12. Exposition
• The exposition occurs at the beginning of the
film and introduces the key themes of the
film. It is important because it creates the
viewers first impression of the documentary.