Documentary Formats Mini Task

Film & TV Mini Task:

A documentary is film making that makes the audience think about the topic that is being discussed and shown. A documentary must be factual and are used to give information to the audience as well as to make them think about the subject of the documentary.

Expository Documentary:

An expository documentary is a style in which the facts and video and being narrated by a voiceover, this voiceover gives the audience facts and describes the documentary to the audience. The voiceover can be used to influence people opinions on a topic by talking positively or negatively with what’s going on in the documentary. Blackfish is a documentary about the killer whale at Sea world and man’s relationship with nature.

 

Observational Documentary:

In an observational documentary the film maker records random clips around the topic, and leaves the audience to decide what they think of the topic. The film maker is not in the documentary and does not influence what is being recorded, they record what is going on around them, although they choose what they wish to record, such as some documentaries may only focus on the positive scenes from the series of clips they filmed to influence the audience on the topic, they simply film real life as it is. An example of an observational documentary is Hoop Dreams, which is about how two boys make their dreams of becoming basketball players, and shows their life and struggles.

 

Interactive Documentary:

An interactive documentary is where the filmmaker is in the documentary and interacts with the people in their documentary about a certain topic; they would ask questions to the people in their documentary to show the audience their answers and opinions. Interactive documentaries usually heavily influence the viewer by using certain clips and editing them in a fashion which affects the person’s opinion on the topic based off of what they see. An example of an Interactive documentary is Louis Theroux’s documentary on Jimmy Savile.

Reflexive Documentary:

A reflexive documentary is a style in which the filmmaker puts together a series of scenes which depicts everyday life, the way that this style of documentary is shot is in a way which makes you think about the messages that the documentary is trying to show you, without a voiceover or anything to help guide the audience, the documentary can be interpreted in different ways but they all have a message to give to the audience. Reflexive documentaries can be deceiving due to the documentary being accurate but the way the film is shot and edited may make it false representation of the topic being shown. An example of this is Powaqquatsi.

Performative Documentary:

A performative documentary is where the filmmaker recreates the event that is being discussed in the documentary to entertain the audience and help them to understand better. Performative documentaries can over exaggerate what really happened. The camera and soundtrack can help the audience feel a part of the documentary. These types of documentaries often involve a lot of interviews with different people who help build the story or message of the documentary. Forensic Detectives is an example of Performative Documentaries which are based on murders, the documentaries interview people that were involved with solving the murder and recreating the crime scene.

 

Conclusion:

I think that the documentary should present accurate information and it must be factual, I think that if the documentary tries to influence the audience then they may miss the context in which the information is being given, this is especially in interactive documentaries where the filmmaker can directly influence how the audience should think and to pass on their views as a filmmaker. Validity When a filmmaker is trying to change your opinions or emphasises things through editing that the validity of the information being given to you is questionable.