Modes of Documentary in Filmmaking

1. Modes of Documentary
WARDA MARYAM
WARDA.CHOUDRY@OUTLOOK.COM

2. 1. The Expository Mode
-voice of God-
 This mode is what we identify most with documentaries.
 It emphasises verbal commentary – often using a
narrator.
 Addresses the spectator (viewer) directly, with titles or
voices that propose a perspective, advance an argument
or recount history.
 Most associated with Television News programming.

3. 1. Expository Mode
 Images become subordinate to the voice-over narration.
 They serve to illustrate, illuminate or act in counterpoint to
what is being said by the author.
 Editing in the expository mode serves to maintain the
continuity of the spoken argument or perspective. - this is
called evidentiary.
 Examples include all the nature documentaries.
 Example: BBC Panorama Euro 2012: Stadiums of Hate.
Watch clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y8ewUXkf6s&t=37s
 Example: Lahore Ki Ratain directed by Salman Saeed for PTV,
Lahore.
Watch Part - 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzXRaMi29mg

4. 2. The Poetic Mode
-subjective, artistic, expression-
 Stresses the lyrical, rhythmic and emotional aspect of the historical
world.
 Sacrifices filmic conventions for example, continuity editing and a
situated time and space, to explore associations between images,
objects and patterns.
 Examples of this documentary type include Baraka (1992), Man of Aran
(1934), and Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia (1938).
 Baraka (1992) is a documentary film with no narration or voice-over. It
explores themes via a compilation of natural events, life, and human
activities shot in 24 countries on six continents over a 14-month
period.
 Watch clip of Baraka:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=452SwB_vgZI
 Olympia is a 1938 Nazi German propaganda sports film.
 Watch clip of Olympia (1938):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKHGdDMHQBY
 Man of Aran (1934) presents life on Ireland's Aran Islands.

5. 3. The Observational Mode
-window on the world-
 Attempt to observe aspects of the historical world as they happen.
 Typically have no voice-over commentary, no supplementary music or
sound, no inter-titles, no historical re-enactments, no behaviour repeated for
the camera and no interviews.
 Social actors behave as if no filmmakers were there.
 Examples of this documentary type include Frederick Wiseman Hospital’
(1970), Richard Pennebacker's Don't Look Back (1967), and My Big Fat Gypsy
Wedding (2010).

6. 3. The Observational Mode
-window on the world-
 Frederick Wiseman Hospital’ (1970):
 It explores the daily activities of the people at Metropolitan Hospital
Center, a large-city hospital in New York, with emphasis on its
emergency ward and outpatient clinics.
 Watch clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqFCgQ_6sDA
 Richard Pennebacker's Don't Look Back (1967)
 It is a American documentary film that covers Bob Dylan's 1965
concert tour in England. Bob Daylan is an American singer-
songwriter, author, and visual artist.
 Watch clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eq3u15H4XM
 My Big fat Gypsy Wedding (2010)
 Big Fat Gypsy Weddings is a British documentary series broadcast
on Channel 4, that explored the lives and traditions of several Irish
Traveller families.

7. 4. The Participatory Mode
 Involves an interview between filmmaker and the subject.
 This allows the filmmaker to address people who appear in the film,
formally
 This is opposed to addressing the audience through voice-over
commentary.
 This gives the audience a sense of what it is like for the filmmaker to
be in a given situation and how that situation alters as a result.
 Example: Chronicle of a Summer (1961).
 It was a 1961 French documentary film shot during the summer of 1960.
Real-life individuals discussed topics on society, happiness in the
working class among others, and with those testimonies the filmmakers
created fictional moments based on their interviews.
 Watch its clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QchCPzDgC18

8. 5. The Reflexive Mode
-awareness of the process-
 Reflexive documentaries are similar to participatory documentaries in
that they often include the filmmaker within the film. However, unlike
participatory, most creators of reflexive documentaries make no
attempt to explore an outside subject. Rather, they focus solely on
themselves and the act of making the film.
 The best example of this style is the 1929 silent documentary Man
with a Movie Camera (1929) by Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov. Watch
clip about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhdPmsoSHo0
 Other examples include:
 Mitchell Block’s ’No Lies’ (1973)
 Surname Viet Given Name Nam (1989)
 Biggie & Tupac (2002)

9. 6. The Performative Mode
-filmmaker as participant-
 Performative mode of documentary raises questions about what knowledge
is.
 It sets out to demonstrate how the specificities of personal experience
provide entry into an understanding of the more general processes at work
in society.
 This is done by stressing the emotional complexity of experience from the
perspective of the filmmaker.
 Stresses the tone and mood, more so than arguments and evidence.
 Example: Bowling for Columbine (2002) by Michael Moore.
 Political documentary filmmaker Michael Moore explores the circumstances
that lead to the 1999 Columbine High School massacre and, more broadly,
the proliferation of guns in USA.
 Watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPwBGPl3iI0&feature=youtu.be
 Other Examples of this type of documentary include Supersize Me and
Tongues Untied.