This document discusses different types of documentaries and their purposes. It defines observational, interview-based, dramatized, narrated, mixed, self-reflexive, docudrama, and docusoap documentaries. For each type it provides examples and discusses their characteristics such as use of narration, interviews, reconstruction of events, and inclusion of the filmmaker's perspective. The overall purpose is to educate about various documentary filmmaking techniques and styles.

2. What is a
documentary’s
purpose?

3. 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.
“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

4.  Observation : The action or process of closely observing or
monitoring something or someone.
 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.
 Dramatisation : The reconstruction of an event, novel, story in a
form suitable for dramatic presentation.
 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.
 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.

6.  A fully narrated documentary has a voice over the documentary to
help the audience gain a better understanding of what is going on.
 Fully narrated documentaries often us direct address and the voice
over goes along with the visuals that the audience is seeing;
meaning that everything is based around the visuals.
 Fully narrated documentaries use the voice of 'God' and so people
take what they hear as the truth.
 Examples of fully narrated documentaries are The Living Planet and
Human Planet.
 The most popular fully narrated documentaries voted by the
website IMDb consist of Exit Through The Gift Shop, Grizzly Man,
Zeitgeist, Biography (TV series), Hoop Dreams, Encounters at the
End of the World.

7.  Fly on the wall documentaries use cinema verite which
captures what seems like a natural setting to the audience
however editing, camerawork and the way the setting is
arranged all affect what it is the audience is shown.
 A fly on the wall documentary is mainly observational and
there is little commentary or narration.
 This type of documentary is filmed as and when it happens
and is not staged; this helps to give chilling experiences for
certain topics as it is showing you what has actually
happened.
 Fly-on-the-wall is a style of documentary-making used in
filmmaking and television production. The name derived from
the idea that events are seen candidly, as a fly on a wall might
see them.

8.  A mixed documentary uses a combination of interviews,
observation and narration to help to advance the argument the
creator is trying to put forward.
 Within a mixed documentary as the journalist is speaking
pictures continue over it.
 A strength of mixed documentaries it that it is representing an
objective reality and not just a selective construction.
 Examples of mixed documentaries are The Devil Made Me Do It,
Music Biz and Living With Michael Jackson.
 The narration links the story together, it also advances the
narrative.
 They have been criticised for representing ‘objective’ reality.

9.  Within a self reflexive documentary the documentary maker
talks to the camera to try to draw the attention of the audience.
 Self reflexive documentaries have been criticised as being
confusing to an audience as they can be said to be drawing
attention to themselves for publicity.
 They have also been criticised for the documentary being about
them and not the subject or the content that they are supposed
to be talking about.
 Examples of self reflexive documentaries are The Secret
Millionaire, Teen Mom, 16 and Pregnant, Sun, Sex and
Suspicious Parents.
 In a reflexive documentary, the film maker acknowledges their
presence in front of the camera and provides a narrative to the
documentary.

10.  However although Docudrama's claim to relive the truth critics
claim that they can only ever hope to deliver fiction because
they cant really know what went on or how people acted or felt.
 Docudrama's are also criticised for being misleading and
dangerous as people believe them as they claim to be real.
 Examples of Docudrama documentaries are Crime Watch and
Paranormal Witness.
 A docudrama is a reconstruction or re-enactment of something
which has actually happened.
 They show events which have happened at the time.
 A docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of radio and
television programming, feature film, and staged theatre, which
features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. On stage, it
is sometimes known as documentary theatre.

11.  Docu-soaps originated in the UK and within a Docu-soap it
follows a group of people around.
 There is a lot of dispute over whether a docu-soap is actually a
documentary or not.
 However, documentaries are based on eavesdropping but are
extremely popular both with the audience and documentary
makers as they require no cast, very little crew and are cheap to
make.
 Examples of docusoap documentaries are One Born Every
Minute, Teen Mom, My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, The Family and
16 and Pregnant.
 Docusoaps started in the 1990’s. This genre of documentary
was popular because people liked that it was a real soap opera.