Research into media forms (documentaries)

The definition of a documentary is "Being consistant of documents" and also "A film, television or radio program that gives facts or information on a subject". There is no specific, strict road a documentary needs to go down but all documentaries fall into at least one of these six labels: Expository, Observational, Participatory, Reflexive, Poetic and Preformative.

 What makes up an expository is if it is very obvious it is heavily researched, their aim is to educate. This style of documentaries are referred to as essay films. The content will include footage supporting and strengthening what the documentary is talking about, stock footage, archival footage or reenactment footage. Some other characteristics of an expository documentary include: voice over (often referred to as "Voice of god"), a "right" answer (doesn't really leave it open to interpretation) and evitory editing. Some examples of expository documentaries include: The Dust Bowl (2012), The Blue Planet (2001) and Animal Planet

Observational documentaries are a type of documentary style that aims to record everyday life surrounding a specific topic without any intrusion, they give a fly-on-the-wall effect to the viewer. Another code and convention of this style of documentary is that it is realistic as possible as this style should strive to achieve cinematic realism. They tend to be low budget and natural lighting but this is not always the case. Some examples include: Animal Planet, Teen Mom and Don't Look Back.

Participatory documentaries are defined by the narrator taking part in the facts on a topic they are trying to present and are actively being filmed. For example documentaries by Louie Theroux are mainly participatory. This type of documentaries often present from the narrators' POV and also include a voiceover from the narrator. Some examples of this are Moaning of Life, Louis Theroux-Life on the Edge, Bowling for Columbine, Supersized Me.

What makes up a reflexive documentary is if it gives the audience a feel of constructive reality and questioning if the doc is authentic. But don't mistake it for it having the intent of provoking an intense emotional reaction in a viewer. Unlike Expository and also Observational, this style focuses on the documentary production process. This is why it is sometimes referred to as an interactive documentary as it shows the involvement of the filmmaker and the camera(man). Some examples include Man with a Movie Camera, Chronical of a Summer and the "Mockumentaries" (mock documentaries) Creep (1 and 2) and The Blair Witch Project.

For poetic documentaries, they take more of an artistic approach by using images, music and videos to paint a certain light around a topic. They're about showing the audience the world through a different set of eyes and it is normally done in an abstract way as this genre is abstract and loose with narrative. Examples of these documentaries are Cool Face, Fata Morgana and Tounges United.

A preformative documentary is when it shows the filmmakers involvement with their subject they are covering. Using personal experiences of the matter as a jumping point to then go deeper into the subject about social issues. It is similar to reflexive documentaries as the filmakers are to capture the documentary making process as well as capturing footage of the filmmaker's deep and intimate relationship with the subject. Some examples include: Supersized me, Tounges United, Alieen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer. 

MasterClass staff. (2021). Film 101: Understanding Performative Documentary Mode. Available: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/understanding-performative-documentary-mode#4-examples-of-performative-documentaries. Last accessed 17th of March 2022.

MasterClass staff. (). Film 101: Understanding Expository Documentary Mode. Available: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/understanding-expository-documentary-mode#what-are-the-characteristics-of-an-expository-documentary. Last accessed 16th of mach 2022.

Landon Dyksterhouse. (). What is a documentary. Available: https://www.videomaker.com/how-to/documentary/what-is-documentary/. Last accessed 16th of mach 2022.

Cambridge Dictionary. (). Meaning of documentary in english. Available: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/documentary. Last accessed 16th of mach 2022.