Documentaries

What is a documentary?

Consisting of or based on official documents.

Using pictures or interviews with people involved in real events to provide a factual report on a particular subject.

What makes a good documentary?

Relating to target audience

Interesting main subject

Entertaining element

Finding a focus point

Inspire don’t lecture

What types of documentaries exist?

There are 7 types of documentaries:

- Reality TV

- Fly on the wall

- Docusoaps

- Docudrama

- Fully narrative

- Mixed

- Self reflected

Docusoaps

It is an observational, long running documentary series which follows an individual or group of people. Docusoaps started in 1990’s, it was a popular documentary genre because people liked the real soap opera.

Example of this; Only Way is essex, Big Fat Gypsy Wedding

Reality TV

It is factual TV which progressed between 1989 and 1999. This type of TV gives you useful information in the form of entertainment.

Fly on the wall

A fly on the wall is when the camera is unseen or the people ignore it, this makes the characters act as if the cameras were not there. Therefore the cameras record the event which are unrolled.

Examples: Big Brother

Mixed

A mixed documentary is a combination of interviews, observation, actuality footage, archive material and narration.

The narrator links the story together, it also advances the narrative.

Self Reflexive

The type of documentary is when the camera follows a person or group of people around. The person/people know that the camera is there and they stop to talk to it.

Docudrama

A docudrama is a reconstruction or re-enactment of something which has actually happened. Shows events which have happened at the time.

Fully Narrated

This documentary is when the narrates the whole way through the documentary. It is used to convey the exposistion, and used to make sense of what they see. They dominate what is happening.

Documentary forms: Reflexive

In which the film maker acknowledges their presence- they are in front of the camera and give some narrative guidance.

Observational: Being there as events unfold- these documentaries tend to follow a person or event and document their journey as it occurs. The camera remains as unobtrusive as possible, allowing the audience to make up their own mind.

Expository

An analysis and exposition of a person of a person or topic, e.g Micheal Moore.

Participatory

Welcomes direct engagement between filmmaker and subject(s)- the filmmaker becomes part of the events being recorded.

Tourettes- BBC Three

An observational documentary, watching events unfold.

Voiceover, Reggie Yates

Interviewees; people with Tourettes

Created to entertain but also inform and create sympathy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1K1Mj9qk-s