This document discusses the key features and types of documentaries. It identifies five key elements of documentaries: observation, interviews, dramatization, mise-en-scene, and exposition. It then describes several types of documentaries, including fly on the wall, drama documentary, mockumentary, personal, fully narrated, mixed, self-reflexive, and investigative documentaries. Examples are provided for each type to illustrate its conventions.

1. Features and Types of
Documentaries
Joseph Toyer

2. Key Features and Conventions of a
Documentary
• According to John Corner, there are 5 elements:
1. Observation – most documentaries contain sequences of
observation of the matter documented.
2. Interview – Television documentaries usually rely on
interviews in which opinions are brought in to challenge
facts.
3. Dramatization – All documentaries make their audience
witnesses to dramatic events.
4. Mise-en-scene – This refers to the things that are put
into the shot, things the producers want the audience to
see.
5. Exposition – This is what the documentary is saying,
made up of descriptions that combine with commentary.

3. Fly on the Wall
• The camera is put in the corner of a location and
hidden from the audience, to observe their
unmediated nature. This means to show the true
form of a subject without the effect of the media.
‘I’m a Celebrity : Get
me out of Here’
(ITV1)
Celebrities volunteer to go into
the jungle game of thrones to
be crowned Monarchy of the
Jungle. The cameras observe
them in their social area with
their natural responses to the
environment they are in.

4. Drama Documentary
• Alike dramatization, however the whole
documentary is a fictional piece based on a true
story or emphasises an educational matter to the
audience.
‘An Adventure in
Time and Space’
(BBC4)
To celebrate 50 years of the British
Sci-Fi ‘Doctor Who’, the BBC
produced a dramatization of the
story of William Hartnell’s life behind
the scenes of his era and how those
three years looked for Doctor Who.

5. Mockumentary
• These are also fictional films but instead of telling
the actual story, they make a parody of the forms
and conventions of a documentary for a humorous
effect.
‘The Dictator’ (2012)
Classed as a mockumentary for
being inspired by real dictators
such as Kim Jon-il and
parodying their lifestyles and
religions.

6. Personal
• These are shot on video and feature the maker
addressing the camera directly to share their views
with the audience.
Michael Moore
Oscar Award
Winning
Documentary
FilmMaker
He has made opinionated
documentaries often on his
views around the American
politics.

7. Fully Narrated
• The Narrator directly addresses to the audience and
the narration makes sense of the visuals,
dominating their meaning. This has lead to critics
dubbing these as ‘The Voice of God Documentaries’.
‘Meerkat Manor’
(Channel5)
A narrator tells the stories of a group
of Meerkats with live footage of
them. The stories told are merely
describing what is shown in the
footage as well as naming the
Meerkats for identification.

8. Mixed
• Unlike the fully narrated, these have more
interviews and observation mixed with the
narration.
‘Big Brother’
(Channel5)
Big Brother features fly on the
wall for observation, interviews
in the Diary Room and during
evictions as well as narration.

9. Self Reflexive
• The subjects of the documentary acknowledge the
presence of the camera and commonly speak to the
film makers directly.
Louis Theroux
Broadcaster
Louis owns the TV series ‘Louis
Theroux’s Weird Weekends’
and ‘When Louis Met…’ which
feature documentaries
revolving around his life.

10. Investigative
• This documentary investigates into a matter trying
to conclude to an answer, alike the type of
documentary I would be making.
‘Panorama’ (BBC1)
This documentary is the longest
running current affairs
television series worldwide,
having ran since 1953.