Isla Dhillon

Unit 27 task 3 documentary formats

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refrencing !
Documentary formats
Documentary formats are formats which documentary are classed as, its the
different styles and conventions of a documentary.
Expository is a documentary format, an expository documentary is one that is
usually non-fiction so they arent fictional, the person whos speaking is doing so
directly to the audience, although they are giving a sort of narration through this
documentary. They will use this narration to help speak directly to the audience
by suggesting a perspective, an argument and advance- helping explain what is
going on at the current moment, an example of this voice which helps address

Isla Dhillon
the audience directly and helps advance them in whats happening; which can be
used in a voice-of god commentary but is used in a voice-authority commentary
is David Attenborough of Wildlife. He in wildlife helps address the audience
directly as he is informing them by having this voice-authority commentary
where he is sometimes seen and at other times not- so his voice is connecting
the audience with the visuals by explaining whats going on. Williams, D.
(2013) Merlisa Betito. Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/Dan1401/6-types-of-documentary
(Accessed: 18 April 2016). ]
Conventions of expository documentary style would be that It will have a voice
over which can either be a voice-of god or voice authority commentary, they will
directly address the viewer and another convention of expository style could be
that images are used to connect the voice with the visuals as the voice will often
interpretative whats being shown visually to the audience and help understand
more in depth as to what is going on- which is also sometimes counterpoint. Also
this style documentary will be presented in a continuous way,
Example of this type of documentary would be David Attenborough wildlife
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhO0GCNSZ_w
I think this example fits as he is talking throughout the program to help keep the
audience informed as to whats going on in detail and also appears himself
during some parts of this type of documentary therefore hes using voiceauthority which helps to engage the audience directly.

Observational documentaries are documentaries which attempt to show

observations which are untouched, so the audience can view it how it actually is.
This style of documentary aims to show immediacy, intimacy, and revelation of
human characteristics is real life situations.
https://collaborativedocumentary.wordpress.com/6-types-of-documentary/ (Accessed: 19 April
2016).
Conventions of observational documentary style would be that they focus of the
location shooting- so they may use multiple hand held cameras. As the style is
observational, long take are important, they will have direct sound recording to
help show that the documentary is a first-hand observation as well as having no
voice overs which also shows its a first-hand observation, there will be no
interviews and the filmmaker wont be present in the filming of the documentary.
Also people p-resent in the filming will act naturally as if they arent being filmed
doing so that footage raw and natural.

Interactive documentaries are documentaries where the act of filmmaking will

influence or alter things being filmed, they outdo the participant observation.
The filmmaker will be included in the film and the audience will receive a sense
of how events being filmed are affected by the filmmakers presence.

Isla Dhillon
https://collaborativedocumentary.wordpress.com/6-types-of-documentary/ (Accessed: 19 April
2016).

Conventions of interactive documentary style would be that the filmmaker and

people in the film are interactive with the subject, also interviews will be used
but will tend to be informal. They will use hand held cameras for location
shooting and include materials throughout the documentary of stills, news
footage and newspapers, like observational documentaries interactive ones also
have the convention that long takes dominate. They will use direct sounds and
any voiceovers will usually be the documentary filmmaker, the documentary
maker will often be present in the documentary.
An example of a interactive documentary is

Reflexive documentaries are documentaries that have a clear outlook on the

world, focusing more on the attention of the representation of the style/ events
within the documentary. https://collaborativedocumentary.wordpress.com/6-types-ofdocumentary/ (Accessed: 19 April 2016).
Conventions of a reflexive style documentary would be the techniques they use
from fiction film to evoke emotion for a subjective response from the audience,
they emphasise the nature of film so they use things such a lighting, and music
to build tension or drama. Another convention is that they will use a voice-over
to help question the uncertain.
An example of a reflexive style documentary would be Vertovs The Man with a Movie
Camera (1929)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdbU-4tPq5o

Performative documentary style are documentaries which evoke experience

and an emotional response, they can be personal, unconventional, experimental;
they may include a hypothesis- they are trying to test something and discover
information by creating this style documentary or show an important event
which could be historical. https://collaborativedocumentary.wordpress.com/6-types-ofdocumentary/ (Accessed: 19 April 2016).
Conventions of performative documentaries would be that the filmmaker and
crew interact with the subjective (people involved in this documentary), also this
style of documentary will be shaped into the narrative of an investigation or
search without conclusion, also the audience will evoke emotion from this style
documentary directly. Another convention of this style documentary would also

Isla Dhillon
be that Subjects (people involved in the documentary) are usually concerns of
identity rather than being factual topics.
An example of a performative documentary is Alain Resnais Night and frog
(1995) which is a commentary by a surviver of The Holocaust Jean cayrol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_JQBL1fbi0