There are seven main types of documentaries: docusoaps, which follow individuals or groups in an observational style; reality TV, which blends information and entertainment; fly on the wall documentaries where cameras are unseen as they record events; mixed documentaries using interviews and footage; self-reflexive films where subjects interact with the camera; docudramas which reconstruct past events; and fully narrated films where a narrator speaks throughout.

1. TYPES OF DOCUMENTARIES
There are seven different types of documentaries and
throughout this PowerPoint I will name and explain
what they are.

2. DOCUSOAPS
• This is a hybrid genre, which is observational. It’s a long
documentary series which either follows an individual or a
group of people, e.g. Big Fat Gyspy Weddings.
• This genre began in the 1990s, this particular genre of
documentary was attracted by the audience because they liked
that it was a real soap opera.
• Docusoaps genre follow a central protagonist which means the
audience will get to now the character.

3. REALITY TV
• This genre is factual TV. It progressed in 1989-1999. This
particular genre gives you information which is in the form of
entertainment.
• Reality TV contains a mixture of serious information and
commercial entertainment.

4. FLY ON THE WALL
• This is when the camera is unseen or is ignored by the
audience. Meaning the cameras record the events which are
unrolled.
• For example this is seen in programmes like ‘Big Brother’
because the cameras are hidden, making the people in the
house act as if they weren’t there.

5. MIXED
• Is a mixed documentary as it includes a combination of
interviews, observations, actuality footage, archive material and
narration.
• Having the narrator in a documentary helps link the story
together and it also advances the narrative.
• Most of the time, documentaries now are mixed.

6. SELF REFLEXIVE
• This form of documentary is when the camera follows an
individual or a group of people. The individual/ people know
there is a camera following them which means they stop and
talk to them, such as Bear Grylls.

7. DOCUDRAMA
• This is a reconstruction or re-enactment of something that has
actually happened before in the past, the documentary
includes/shows events which actually happened at the time.

8. FULLY NARRATED
• A fully narrated type of documentary is when the narrator
narrates all the way through a documentary.
• A narrator is used throughout a documentary to make a clear
image to the audience of what they see/what is going on. For
example, Planet Earth.