The document discusses different types of documentaries including fully narrated, mixed, fly on the wall, docudrama, docusoap, and self-reflective. It provides details on the key features and examples of each type. Documentaries aim to document reality through observation, interviews, dramatization, and exposition in order to inform, investigate, educate, and entertain audiences on factual subjects. Pioneering documentary maker John Grierson coined the term documentary and defined it as the creative treatment of actuality.

1. GENRE ANALYSIS Samantha Fairclough

2. INTRODUCTION TO
DOCUMENTARIES
The purpose to a documentary is to document an
aspect of reality. They also: inform, investigate,
educate and entertain. They are factual and subject
specific with an exposition (argument/clear point),
facts and different styles.
John Grierson was a pioneering Scottish documentary
maker, often considered the father of British and
Canadian documentary film. In the 1930s he had a
film group called General Post Office who made
documentaries. Documentaries were produced for a
cinema audience as TV had not yet been developed.
He coined the term Documentary, he defined it as the
creative treatment of actuality. “In documentary we deal with the actual, and in one
sense with the real. But the really real, if I may use
that phrase, is something deeper than that. The only
reality which counts in the end is the interpretation
which is profound” – John Grierson.

3. FEATURES OF DOCUMENTARY
Observation: The action or process of closely observing or monitoring something or
someone. The normal styling is that the camera is positioned to be unseen and hidden
away from the people within filming, this therefore equates to the audience having more
of watching sensation while viewing the documentary.
Interview: An interview is a conversation between two or more people where questions are
asked by the interviewer to elicit facts or statements from the interviewee. Interviews are a
normal element of documentaries, this can be within a various type of documentaries.
Respondents are asked various questions to gather feedback related to the topic being
discussed within the programme.
Dramatisation: The reconstruction of an event, novel, story in a form suitable for dramatic
presentation. Drama is a key component, as a purpose as well as to inform and document
is to entertain the viewers.
Mise-en-scene: An expression used to describe the design aspects of a theatre or film
production, which essentially means visual theme or telling a story. Costumes, lighting,
setting, props and actors help create the drama.
Exposition: The exposition is the portion of a story that introduces important background
information to the audience; for example, information about the setting, events occurring
before the main plot, characters' back stories, etc. Dramatic parts of the documentary are
specially chosen in order to get the viewer’s attention.

4. TYPES OF
Fully narrated
Self reflective
Fly on the wall Mixed
DOCUMENTARIES
Docudrama Docusoap

5. FULLY NARRATED
A fully narrated documentary contains a
voice over the majority of the
programme, this is called the voice of
god as the narrator is not visible to the
audience yet their input is still vital as it
adds a more contextual point of view. A
direct mode of address is used as it
anchors the meaning of the visual
representation. It also can be argued as
a figure of authority as the audience is
encouraged to agree with their opinion.
For example multiple David
Attenborough’s documentaries.

6. MIXED
A mixed documentary contains both
narration with elements of interviews
related to the topics, giving a stronger
argument throughout. It is a
combination of interviews, observation
and narration. In this type of
documentary, the narrator can be visible
to the audience unlike the way a fully
narrated documentary is run. For
example The Devil Made Me Do It.

7. FLY ON THE WALL
Fly on the wall documentaries are mainly
observational with limited commentary or
narration. This is to portray the audience as an
outsider; with the programme is being more
realistic and less staged. This type of
documentary is filmed as and when it happens
i.e. at the point of action; this helps to give an
unsettling experiences towards the viewers as
it is showing the true events that occurred.
However, a considerable amount of editing is
used in the making of a fly on the wall
documentary which questions the actual
situation seen. The audience are only seeing
what the maker of the documentary wants
them to see, so it cannot be taken as complete
certainty that all the documentary is true.

8. DOCUDRAMA
A re-enactment of events as they are suppose to
have happened, the story would be based on a real
fact portrayed to the audience as it happened. . For
example crimewatch or the 9/11 tragedy.
Investigators track as much as possible on elements
of situations so the documentary is as factual as
possible. I.e. tracking of mobile phone calls before
the plane crash of 9/11 and re-enact them to how
the situation may have looked, but due to their
being no survivors the documentary can not be seen
as an exact representation.

9. DOCUSOAP
A docusoap documentary is a
documentary that follows the daily life of
a particular individual. A docusoap no
cast, very little crew involved and are
relatively cheap to construct due only a
camera being needed for filming. An
example of a docusoap would be Benefit
street, teen mom or my big fat gypsy
wedding. These have been disputed if
they are actual documentaries, however
they are very popular and are a low cost
to produce.

10. SELF REFLECTIVE
In a self-reflective documentary the
subject acknowledges the camera and
talks to it directly, as to speak to the
film maker themselves. This is to try to
draw the attention of the audience. Self-reflective
documentaries are less
popular compared to others seen as they
are criticised for being about the
presenter and not the content that they
are supposed to be discussing. A self
reflexive documentary is where the
narrator of the documentary contributes
the most input.