Documentary Types By Charlie Lunn

Observational Explanation with codes and cons: An observational documentary is one that relies on using footage captured and simply presenting it so that that the audience is not lead to any opinion, allowing them to create their own. They are commonly known as “fly on the wall documentaries”, as often footage is captured with involving anyone, it is just observing. However the way an observational documentary is filmed can make it have a narrative or to create drama. By editing the sound accordingly is video, situations can be manipulated to the shows advantage.

Expository Mode Explanation with codes and cons: An expository documentary is designed to expose something, or rather to investigate something in particular. Many documentaries in this style are based around a particular individual or company. They are another documentary that tries to achieve a narrative via the use of footage edited together, being very particular what audio and video is used and in what order. This allows the creator of the documentary to construct drama and a narrative where there was was actually not one at all. They can often use stock footage in order to fill out the documentary and depending on the subject of the documentary this is required as some incidents have no primary footage. A lot of these documentaries are based heavily around interviews, getting accounts from people.

Performative Explanation with codes and cons: Performative Documentaries are often based around the idea that documentary is following the person making the documentary, as they ‘perform’ in front of camera. This means that more human drama and emotion can be captured, as more often than not the subject of documentary is close to the heart of the documentary maker. Camera angles and editing style can be similar to that of a scripted film, giving the whole piece a more dramatic feel. Stock footage is often used for filler footage and to give thr piece a more ‘film-like’ feel.

Poetic Explanation with codes and cons: This is sometimes just an element used in parts of documentary rather than a documentary as a whole, or if it is it is usually a short documentary. It is when footage is played along to sounds or music in order to create a certain mood or make a point without using dialogue. The music can be used to help push a certain emotion or as a juxtaposition to the footage played in order to change the context of the footage. A lot of the time footage is stock and not necessarily primary footage.