Task 2: What is a Documentary?

A documentary is a piece of film broadcast as a film or a television programme presenting facts; these could be political, social or historical. Documentaries have become known to shock the audience with information usually accompanied by narration from the film maker.

The purpose of a documentary is to give the audience information about a subject. The purpose of a documentary differs from film to film or depending on the filmmaker. Some filmmakers attempt to change society in some way, nature documentaries do this by talking about Global Warming. Other filmmakers aim is to delight the audience in someway, they usually let the audience make their own judgement; these kind of documentaries include human stories.

In a documentary you expect to see different codes and conventions depending on the film. In most documentaries you will see a filmmaker following the subject, the filmmaker usually provides a narration to go with the film. You may also see footage of the subject for example if it was a documentary about 9/11 footage and images would be shown, interviews are also commonly seen in documentaries footage and images are usually seen while an interview is taking place.

There are subjects that work better for documentaries than others; they work well in their own way in giving out the information. For example nature documentaries and human shock documentaries.

There are 5 main 'modes' of documentary;
-the first one is Expository - this will include a voice-over; usually from the film-maker themselves, real footage/images are often used from the past to give the viewer more information. The purpose of an expository documentary is to describe or analyse information by presenting a theme or concept An example of an expository documentary is war or historical documentaries.
-the next is Observatory - this is to observe a subject and is usually on location shooting. Direct sound recording is used usually with no voice-overs or interviews. The subject is usually unaware of the camera filming them. An example of an observatory documentary is a nature documentary.
-the Participatory/interactive documentary is probably the most commonly seen. The film-maker and crew interact with the subject and usually take part with what's going on. Shooting on location is usually shit with a handheld camera. There is also slight use of archived material. The film-maker is always seen and he/she usually provides the voice-over. An example of a participatory documentary is a Louis Theroux documentary.
-the Reflective documentary is produced to provoke a response with the audience. They show re-enactments with dramatic music to get an emotional response from the audience (sad, angry, scared).
An example of a reflective documentary is Crimewatch.
-the Performative documentary usually has the film-maker performing to the camera, they interact with the subject and sometimes is the subject. A performative documentary is shaped into the narrative of an investigation to be solved in some way to get a conclusion (usually made by the audience). It addresses the audience in an emotional way.
the subject matter is often to do with identity (gender or sexuality), an example of a perfomative documentary is The Grizzly Man.

Modes are interchangeable and will overlap codes and conventions. Boundaries of documentary are always changing.