The document analyzes different types of documentary genres. It discusses the key purposes and features of documentaries, which are to inform, educate, and engage audiences while remaining impartial. It then examines several documentary genres in more detail, including fully narrated, fly-on-the-wall, mixed, self-reflective, docu-drama, and docu-soap documentaries. Each genre is defined and an example is provided to illustrate the characteristics of that type of documentary format.

1. Documentary Genre Analysis

2. Introduction
The main purpose of documentaries being in place is to inform and educate the
audience.
Documentaries are made to engage the audience and get the spectator to use their
brain and think.
Documentaries should be impartial as if they were one sided they would be
propaganda and not a documentary.
Documentaries should also be investigating sides of a certain subject, this will be
either to uncover truths and show the audience something shocking and
controversial. Some documentaries are also made to entertain the audience.

3. Features of a documentary
• Interviews, interviews are the main feature of documentaries. This is because all
documentaries are taking a wealth of peoples opinions who are relevant to the
subject. This is also used to make the audience have a topic to discuss between
themselves.
• Observations, these are what the audience can see, these are included to add
meaning and context to what a person is saying, and they can also be a gripping
specticle to make the audience feel emotion on the subject.
• Voiceovers, most documentaries have a voiceover included, this is because the
voiceover will make the documentary flow. The voiceover is the glue which sticks
the narrative of the documentary together and they also make it easy for the
audience understand what is going on in the documentary.

4. Fully Narrated Documentary
This type of documentary is fully narrated
These types of documentary have no presenter
The narrator is there to guide us through the narrative of the documentary
The narrator is there to tell about what we are seeing, they are usually made
to educate the audience.
A good example of this type of documentary is planet earth, this has David
Attenborough narrating over the top of the visual

5. Fly on the wall documentary
A fly on the wall documentary is predominantly observation
In this kind of documentary the shots used are usually out of the way and
arent in the middle of rooms
The fly on the wall documentary is meant to give the audience a realistic look
into the lives of others
The fly on the wall documentary gives the audience the feeling that the are in
the documentary and like they are actually there.
An example of this documentary is meet the police commissioner which was
broadcast on channel 4

6. Mixed Documentary
A mixed documentary is the culmination of all of the different features which
are included in documentaries.
These documentaries include interviews, narration, archive material and
observations
This type of documentary is the most popular type of documentary as it
allows the creator to get creative in the way in which they make the
documentary
A good example of this is the Great British Railway Journeys as if includes a
wide range of different feature in the documentary.

7. Self Reflective documentary
This type of documentary is usually talking from one person
We follow one person and gather their views and opinions on a certain subject
Sometimes in these documentaries we follow a persons story as it happens and we
get to know what happens with them in their life.
Most of the time these types of documentaries give an honest view of what happens
to a person and they usually dont have to make anything to entertain the audience
as the audience will be interested in the subject which the person is talking about.
An example of this is catfish, this is because we follow one mans story which was
filmed by him and his friends.

8. Docu-Drama Documentary
This documentary is manly a recreation of past historic events shown as a
piece of drama
The aim of the documentary is to try and tell the audience the story about
the event and give the audience a really good idea of what it was like to be
in the event.
They use as much information from the past as they possibly can and this
gives them a good and gruelling look at the past.
A good example of this is the film Cromwell which features Richard Harris as
this gives the audience a realistic look at the life of Oliver Cromwell and
the British civil war.

9. Docu-Soap
This type of documentary follows a group of people
In this type of documentary we get a look into the lives of
people in an informal way
The audience gets the view of the lives of this group of
people
Sometimes scenes in these types of documentary can be
made to make the documentary entertaining and good
to watch as the scene will be made for the audiences
happiness.
A good example of a docu-soap is Geordie shore as it isn't
always 100% reality, they make some scenes for the
audiences wellbeing.