1. Documentary

2. Kinds of Documentaries
Painter Films- Poetic documentaries
Direct Cinema
Talking Head- Expository documentaries
Participatory documentaries
Reflexive documentaries
Performative documentaries

3. Painter/Poetic
a reaction against both the content and grammar of early fiction film.
moved away from continuity editing and instead organized images by means of associations and patterns, both in terms of time and space.
people appeared in these films as entities, just like any other, that are found in the material world.
fragmentary, impressionistic, lyrical.
Examples- Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis,1927,Walter Ruttmann and Phycohydrography by Peter Bo Rappmund

4. Direct Cinema/ Cinema Verite
simply and spontaneously observe lived life with a minimum of intervention.
Made possible by the technology available
immediacy, intimacy, and revelation of individual human character in ordinary life situations.
Example- Highschool, 1968, Frederick Wiseman and Iraq in Fragments, 2006, James Longley

5. Talking Head/Expository
speak directly to the viewer
authoritative commentary employing voiceover or titles
proposes a strong argument and point of view.
rhetorical, and try to persuade the viewer.
Example- The Cove

6. Participatory
Believe that it is impossible for the act of filmmaking to not influence or alter the events being filmed.
Emulate the approach of the anthropologist: participant-observation.
The encounter between filmmaker and subject becomes a critical element of the film.
Example- Sherman’s March, 1986, Ross McElwee

7. Reflexive don’t see themselves as a transparent window on the world
draw attention to their own constructedness, and the fact that they are representations.
question the authenticity of documentary in general
Example- Sans Solei

8. Performative
stress subjective experience and emotional response to the world.
strongly personal, unconventional, perhaps poetic and/or experimental,
often link up personal accounts or experiences with larger political or historical realities.
Example- Night and Fog, 1955, Alain Resnais