Documentaries

Documentary Types

What is a documentary? A documentary is a factual piece of media from which can be made to educate or to make people aware of something. Documentaries cover different forms and styles of media such as television and within films, these are used to show someone's opinion of something to show an audience something in reality.  If I was to define 'Documentary' then I would say 'A media style that is used to educate and inform, it is a factual example of something in reality'. Bill Nichols was the man who categorized the different types and forms of these documentaries. He categorized them into 5 types, these are; Expository, observational, interactive, reflexive and performative. I will now go into detail about each of these categories.

Expository

There are many different types of documentaries that are used to show certain things in different ways. For example there are Expository documentaries. These are used to show factual real life images, this is normally voiced over and within the voice over it will explain and describe the contents of the current image, this is not opinion based and is a direct explanation of the imagery. An example of this would be 'We are the Lambeth boys'. This is an Expository documentary because throughout the film there is a narrator which describes each part in detail, there are opinions within it but these are of the voice over describing what the characters are thinking. Throughout the film the narrator is consistently explaining the imagery to the audience. An example of this would be when the boys are playing cricket, the voice over is narrating what they are doing but also saying what the boys are thinking and their opinions, this same thing happens throughout the entire documentary. Another example of Expository documentaries would be things such as nature programmes, for example David Attenborough has done many documentaries from which he commentates and educates the viewer about what is being shown on the screen. An example would be in 'Planet Earth'. There is a scene where a pack of lions attack some elephants. As the footage continues he explains everything in great detail what is happening with both a narration of the obvious but also the reasons for why and how.

Observational

Another type of documentary is an Observational documentary. This is also known as a 'fly on the wall' documentary, this is because it is an observation of reality. Within this it will not have a voice over but will be ambient sounds of the current surroundings along with dialogue from people that are featured. These documentaries do not obstruct reality and show real life, this is meant to be done so you would be viewing reality from the perspective of a person within it. These are filmed so that they are not intervening with reality so it is not disruptive and to prove that it is genuine. An example of this would be 'High school'. This is a documentary about pupils at a normal day at high school, this is Observational because the camera man was not involved or disrupting the lives of these students and so did not change any aspect of reality. For example in this film there is a scene where pupils are in a class room. It shows them all getting along with their work and listening to the teacher, but it is shown from the perspective of the camera man who is being a 'fly on the wall'. Due to it being based upon observations it is the most transparent of all the documentary types. 'Up seven' is another example of an Observational documentary, this is because it views children growing up from the side-lines and does not interact with the people or disrupt the realism of the documentary.

Interactive

An Interactive documentary is based upon people's opinions and the film maker has a presence throughout, because of this it can sometimes mean that it can be slightly biased or give false information. The film maker's presence means that there is an interaction and hence contains interviews. These can sometimes become based more off opinion than fact and arguments between characters may occur. Editing takes a bit part within an observational documentary, this is because sometimes they will use jump cuts to make it look like the conversation is flowing more and to cut out any awkward silence between the people in the film, furthermore editing will be sometimes used to manipulate what the audience view.

This is why sometimes these documentaries are opaque to reality because they purposely manipulate it so that the audience only see what the film makers want you to see. The news can be seen as Interactive because of the interviews and opinions that take place within it. This also leads onto manipulation because they only want to say or make you see the bits that they want you to see and sometimes don't show you the full picture and sometimes hide some of the fine details. Access and privacy can be an issue when making an Interactive documentary because you will need to arrange interviews and appointments with people in order to make the discussions that will feature. Also permissions and releases will be required in order to make the production because they will sometimes be filming on other people's property and hence will need permission, anywhere from which they will film, they will need to fill out a location release. Another example of an Interactive documentary would be 'Louis and the Nazis'. This documentary involves a person going around and meeting many different people at different locations and film him making discussion and interviews. For example in this documentary it shows him interviewing many different people, my favourite is when he goes to the skin heads house and talks to them about their views and opinions. This happens all through the documentary as he interviews many varieties of people involved as Nazi's. Louis has done many other documentaries about others, all these have the same structure and style because he is an Interactive film maker. These are very opinionated and hence forth is an Interactive documentary.

Reflexive

Another example of a documentary is Reflexive. A Reflexive documentary shows clips from what they believe is real life. The film makers try to expose reality to the audience by involving clips of real life, for example 'everyday life'. These documentaries are often experiments as they try to show reality but in different ways. Reflexive documentaries are not fully realistic and are not transparent when showing reality as they can sometimes be manipulated. Because these are experimented with they can sometimes be confusing and misleading and sometimes confusing to the audience. An example of a Reflexive documentary would be 'Territories'. This is a documentary is about black people in culture during the 1980's. This is Reflexive because it is experimental and sometimes can be confusing. For example within this .It is deliberately made to expose the problems with documentaries and so is at points very misleading and is manipulated in this way. 'Driving me crazy' and 'Ghosts' by Nick Broomfield are other examples of a Reflexive documentaries. In these films it shows the crew in front of the camera, it can sometimes be more about making it than the content of the film. Ghosts is about a woman who decides to become an illegal immigrant and work abroad. In this it shows observations of reality and the struggles that she goes through. For example when she is working she is observed by the camera but it is more experimental in the way that they are trying to show reality. Certain things happen within people working and throughout they are trying to show one side of the situations.

 as it shows the camera crew in front of the camera, furthermore the documentary is more about them making it than the actual content of the film, this is almost entirely experimental.

Performative

Performative documentaries are often made to portray reality, for example it will contain re-enactments that will replace footage of the actual event. This means that sometimes these documentaries are not entirely truthful because the re-enactments are almost entirely based of people's opinions. Sometimes these documentaries are made for presentation more than content. These films can also be slightly like an interactive documentary because within a Performative documentary they can also contain interviews from which people can voice their opinions. Furthermore these documentaries represent the information to the audience indirectly and exaggerate some of the content. Also within the editing it is made to draw your attention to certain aspects. They use; music and camera angles to suggest certain characteristics. Because of these aspects, these are the reason that these kinds of documentaries are not completely truthful. Examples of this kind of documentaries are 'The thin blue line' and programmes like 'Seconds from disaster'. These documentaries contain re-enactments and they have many different views and opinions. The re-enactments that are included in these documentaries are to show people views and observations upon a situation. For example in 'The thin blue line' it shows the re-enactment of the murder from many people's perspectives and from what they have said, followed by interviews. Each time it is shown it is different as each witness voiced a different opinion.

Conclusion

All in all I think that documentaries need to always remain truthful to the audience. Personally my favourite type of documentary is Interactive, this is because you get to see the opinions from people's interviews but also you get a balanced argument as it remains truthful in the content. Furthermore I think that having the film makers presence throughout the documentary means that it is easy for the audience to follow. Overall I think that the producers of all documentaries need to be truthful and not biased in their content so they are not giving false or unjustified information.