The Five Formats of Documentaries

Introduction:A documentary is a piece of film that aims to show a certain person, place, or event in a preferably unbiased way, and sets out to show the truth as opposed to a certain opinion. Documentary are set apart from other genres and styles of film as thy focus on reality instead of creating stories or worlds, there purpose is to educate and enlighten instead of entertaining. Documentaries have always been a part of the industry and have served faithfully in ensuring the real stories of people and places are remembered. Documentaries can take multiple forms which I will discuss below.

Expository documentaries: An expository documentary favors a voice-over as oppose to the physical presence of a director. An expository documentary will show events with little to no interaction from the director and instead will show the events with a voice-over that will add context and meaning the the images the audience are seeing without directly influencing their opinion. In class we watched the expository documentary We are The Lambeth Boys which was a look into the lives of youths in post war London in the 50's. The documentary showed the day to day lives of these people accompanied by a voice-over explaining what it was they were doing or have previously done. Expository documentaries favor static wide angle shots in order to show as much of what is happening as possible, it is obvious expository documentary makers prefer the use of a tripod rather than handheld camera work.

This particular film however was not completely unbiased as it should have been; there were certain parts were the narrator defended the youths questionable behavior by claiming they were 'too young to know any better'. Another example of an expository documentary includes America's Most Wanted which presents various forms of evidence such as CCTV footage and police sketches accompanied by a voice-over.

Observational documentary: Unlike the other forms of documentaries this one involves no participation from a director, who remains hidden from the audience, the only thing that matters in observational documentaries is what is happening on the screen. Also sometimes referred to as 'fly on the wall' documentaries it allows for the audience to watch the events unfold from an outsiders perspective and the lack of voice-over and director interaction means that the audience are left to form their own opinions about the people and events on screen. The film we watched in class for this style of documentary was High School; a documentary that shows the lives of american high school students in the late 1960's.Observational documentaries use a more fluid handheld style of cinematography in order to freely move and observe the environment and people.



Another example of an observational documentary is Armadillo a film which follows the lives of a platoon of danish soldiers deployed into Afghanistan, the film features no voice-over and no interviews and only shows what events unfold and allow the audience to create their own opinions and reactions.




 Interactive documentary: This style of documentary involves the direct involvement of the director as an interviewer and/or a voice over. The filmmaker directly interacts with the people on screen as well as the audience, this allows for a more personal connection between the people involved and the people watching. This style of documentary however is sometimes criticized for misinterpretation and manipulation as the filmmaker has a huge amount of control of what he/she wants the audience to see and this can lead to the manipulation of events in the filmmakers favor. The film we watched in class for this style of documentary was Louie and the Nazis in which Louie Theroux spends some time with Tom Metzger a famous American white supremacist. Unlike other styles interactive documentaries do not hide behind the 'charade' of being a film we see what they see it is a deliberately immersive way of filming.




Another example of and interactive documentary is Micheal Moore's Bowling For Columbine a both famous and infamous documentary in which Micheal Moore explores gun control in America following the Columbine massacre.



Reflexive documentary: A more experimental form of documentary this style challenges the conventions of the other styles of documentaries with a larger focus on the look and feel of the documentary rather than the content. Reflexive documentaries capture everyday events and actions and stitch them together to make a unique style of presenting information. The film we watched in class for this style was Powaqqatsi a documentary almost entirely in slow motion showing people in India going about their daily lives, with a larger focus on cinematography and lack of any kind of narration/voice-over Powaqqatsi is a unique documentary. Being an avaunt-garde style of documentary the cinematography is normally unique and varies between films and directors.

Another example of a reflexive documentary is Man With A Movie Camera which is described as part documentary part cinematic art, the film shows the day and night life in Soviet Russia in the 1920's.

Performative documentaries: A more stylistic method of documentary making, performative documentaries use exaggerated camera positions more akin to non-documentary cinema as well as soundtracks to immerse the audience in the event that is being shown on the screen. Much like reflexive documentaries performative documentaries have a higher focus on making the film look and feel unique. This style of documentary also incorporates re-enactments to show events that happened previously or were not able to be captured naturally this also serves to further emerge the audience into the diagesis. The movie we watched in class for this method of documentary making was Thin Blue Line a movie following the false conviction of Randall Adams for a murder he did not commit, the film uses re-enactments to show multiple perspectives of the events that unfolded. Performative documentaries are very similar to fictitious films in terms of cinematography using shots that can be almost mistook for a traditional drama or thriller, this is because the directors are working with actors in most cases allowing for more freedom.



Another example of a reflexive documentary is Supersize Me which follows filmmaker Morgan Spurlock as he attempts to only eat products from McDonalds for an entire month, which is described as a visceral and unique documentary.  


                 

Conclusion: In my opinion a documentary can be made in any way the director intended as long as the information is presented in a non-bias and unaltered fashion or at least as much as the format allows. I believe that audiences have a certain expectation for documentary makers to provide reliable and accurate information and in most cases can be forgiven for somewhat unorthodox methods in trade for revealing the truth. The reason I feel this way is that when documentary makers are found out to have manipulated footage to show something in a different or better light they are panned for having not shown the truth, admittedly in some cases this may be better in cases such as the passing of time, showing every between events is unnecessary. However hiding anything that could affect the audiences view on the film is wrong, all the information that can be shown should be shown and audiences should be able to maintain the freedom to decide how they want to interpret the information.