Types of documentary (mini task)

A documentary is showing you events that have happened. They will sometimes recreate scenes to make the documentary make more sense of what they are saying. There are many different types of documentaries, they can be made as a series or  a film based documentary. Sometimes the director or writer will be very involved with the documentary meaning they will appear in front of the camera.

Expository documentaries

They use voice overs explaining what it is going on within a clip so it will also tell a little story along with it. The voice overs are talking directly to the viewer to engage you. They give you information about the topic given to help you understand more about it.
   Bill Nichols says that an expository documentary uses 'disembodied and authoritative' voice overs.

Someone who does this sort of documentary well is David Attenborough. He does voice overs for mostly animal based content within these documentaries and explains the animals’ lives. The sort of things that he talks about is the habitat, food sources, breeding habits and migration patterns.

Observational documentaries

There is normally very little editing, one take per section, and no voice overs to explain what it is going on, they let the viewer think about what is going on. Bill Nichols say that 'The emphasis is to present a slice of life'. The film maker is trying to be invisible throughout the making of an observational documentary.

A good example for this sort of documentary is Titicut Follies directed by Frederick Wiseman who also directed another documentary called high school.   In Titicut Follies it shows you inside a mental hospital/ prison and what goes on within them. This documentary film I chose to look at fits the critieria for the observational documentary because there is no voice over and you are left to think what is going on within a scene shot in real time.

Titicut Follies from Philip Nute on Vimeo.

Interactive documentaries

The interviewer appears within most of the documentary, they speak and interview people giving their opinions and getting to know about the topic. These sort of documentaries are quite different as it shows interaction between the people and the presenter as well. This sort of documentary is based mainly on interviews.

Louis Theroux is very good with this sort of documentary as he has done a few series like this. An example of his work is with the series ‘When Louis met …’.
 This documentary I have found is where Louis talks about love and involves old people with  dementia and how their families and friends deal with it. This documentary fits the criteria  because Louis talks/interviews the people. This also helps fit criteria because he creates a bond with the interviewees. 

Reflexive documentaries 

Reflexive documentaries are like an interactive documentary but they go deeper into the story that is being told. Bill Nichols he says ' In the reflexive documentary, the properties of the film and the film-making process become the main focus of attention'.
   
This documentary is in a montage style showing you a day of a Russian life. There is no music which makes you think of a tune to go along with it. It doesn't feel like it has been forced, it just looks like he has got the permission to film. There are some parts where it looks fake like when the folding chairs moved by themselves- this is one way this documentary fits the criteria.




Performative documentaries 

This sort of documentary shows the emotional aspect and has an aspect of an autobiography with in it. Bill Nichols says 'The performative documentary evokes the mood or atmosphere traditionally found in fiction films'.

This documentary is film based and it is talks and shows you about sexual and racial differences. It is about how black gay men had to keep quiet in the white and black heterosexual society and how the man who filmed this (Marlon Riggs ) also talk about this experience of the American black gay culture. This documentary fits the criteria because it left me with the impression of it being emotional and vivid.




Conclusion

When I watch documentaries I like to look for the factual sort of documentaries. I mostly enjoy the ones about animals. Sometimes I do think the person who has made the documentary may twist the truth a little. It depends on the documentary whether I agree with that approach. The types of documentaries that may twist the truth a bit are the ones about crime because the people who could be witnesses they can lie just because they don't like the person who is on trial and there may not be a lot of evidence on what happened.
    With watching the different types I would say the most interesting to me are the Interactive and Expository based ones as I enjoy finding out about the different animal species that David  Attenborough talks about and I like how Louis interacts with the people he is interviewing. I do think that the information given within them two sort of documentaries are quite truthful as you can find out more about the topics they cover.
    I think the most truthful documentary type is Interactive as it the interviewer is communicating and getting to know the more about what topic the documentary is on. Louis Theroux does this well as he learns about the topic given and interviews people about it. He will try and manipulate his questions to get the truth out of people to get as much information as possible.
  In some way I also think this could make the person who is getting interviewed feel uncomfortable and they may not answer the question given which doesn't help the interviewer if he/she is trying to uncover secrets about them.