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Documentary Styles
- Poetic
- A documentary that has a
very personal topic (usually to
the people involved e.g.
presenter or interviewees)
- Emphasises certain aspects of a persons life to tell a particular
story, generally presented via music, editing and camera shots.
The presentation of these aspects is usually very poetic.
- Music is the most important factor for poetic
documentaries; it helps to develop the mood
and tone of the programme to reveal more
about the narrative.
- A documentary that has a
very personal topic (usually to
the people involved e.g.
presenter or interviewees)
- Expository
- Documentaries in this form are usually
non-fiction films where there is direct
access to the audience.
- Social issues are assembled into an argumentative form
with a narration voice over, which is used to emphasise
the situation with argumentative logic
- Documentaries in this form are usually
non-fiction films where there is direct
access to the audience.
- Observational
- The Fly On The Wall: a documentary
where the filmmaker is a neutral
observer from the outside looking in
- This is used to see how life is lived
and how people/animals/objects
react in certain situations
- Generally seen in wildlife
documentaries such as David
Attenborough
- Generally seen in wildlife
documentaries such as David
Attenborough
- The filmmaker is out of shot so that they do not influence the
narrative in any way, and nothing is rehearsed or staged which means
camera crews are usually rushed leaving shaky handheld footage
- The Fly On The Wall: a documentary
where the filmmaker is a neutral
observer from the outside looking in
- Participatory
- The events of the documentary are influenced and
altered by the presence of the filmmaker.
- Example of this is Supersize Me (2004)
- The events of the documentary are influenced and
altered by the presence of the filmmaker.
- Reflexive
- In this type of documentary the audience engages with
the content of the documentary as it is happening,
acknowledging the issues of realism and representation.
- Shows a truth but not necessarily the truth as
it shows a reconstruction of the issues/events
- The audience are made aware of the
reconstruction through the awareness of the use
of editing, sounds and recordings for voice overs.
- In this type of documentary the audience engages with
the content of the documentary as it is happening,
acknowledging the issues of realism and representation.
- Performative
- Acknowledges the emotional and subjective
aspects of the documentary
- Often in an autobiographical nature;
presents the ideas as part of a context
having different ideas for different people
- Acknowledges the emotional and subjective
aspects of the documentary
- Documentary modes were developed by
American Theorist Bill Nichols; they
were developed to distinguish different
traits and components of documentaries