Documentary Formats

Expository:
Expository documentaries speak directly to the viewer, and often used in the form
of a commentary, employing voiceover or titles that have a strong argument and
point of view on the subject, images are also used to illustrate or sometimes
counterpoint the voiceover. These films are rhetorical, and try to persuade the
viewer, and to do so they will often use a rich and sonorous male voice. (The-voiceof-God). The editing generally establishes/maintains rhetorical continuity more than
temporal. An example of expository films and TV shows: A&E Biography; Americas
Most Wanted; many science and nature documentaries; Ken Burns The Civil War
(1990); Robert Hughes The Shock of the New (1980); John Bergers Ways Of Seeing
(1974). Also, Frank Capras wartime Why We Fight series; Pare Lorentzs The Plow
That Broke The Plains (1936). (Burton, 2009)
This example of David Attenborough's Origin of Life, is an example of an expository
documentary, as he talks directly with a voiceover. This is one of the most common
conventions used in this type of documentary, it then goes on to show actuality
footage of this island and then it moves on to the corals barrier reef talking about all
the environmental problems.

Observational:

Observational documentaries attempt to simply and spontaneously observe lived

life with a minimum of intervention. The first observational docs date back to the
1960's the technological developments which made them possible include mobile
lightweight cameras and portable sound recording equipment for synchronized
sound
Example of observational documentaries, MTV Cribs, as this show follows the
teenagers around as they do a tour of their house. The camera focuses on all of the
wealthy items and furniture that is inside the house as well as outside, interviews
aren't included but the teenagers and parents do talk about the house whilst they're
doing the tour of the house. Techniques such as editing, the speeding up of clips
helps to show the less interesting parts of the house quickly and emphasizes the
good parts of the house when the speed returns to normal, Sound: music makes it
more interesting to watch and the camera shots are long takes used to show
everything. Other examples of Observational documentaries: 16 & pregnant; Teen
Mom; Big brother.

Interactive:
An interactive documentary is when a researcher goes into the field, participates in
the lives of others, they gain a visual feel for what life in a given context is like, and
then reflects on this experience. Interactive documentaries focus primarily on the
main presenter and focus on how they are feeling about the current event and how
it is affecting them physically and emotionally, it can also be supported with
evidence such as interviews.

This is an example of interactive documentary called 'Supersize' me, it is about a

man who lives off MacDonalds and nothing else for an entire month and he is
observed regularly, to see the effects of eating it everyday 3 times a day.

Reflexive:
In a reflexive documentary, the film maker acknowledges their presence in front of
the camera and provides a narrative to the documentary, the reflective style of
documentary is usually associated with experimental documentaries where the
viewer is just as interested about how the film is constructed as they are the actual
content. An example of reflexive documentary makers is Nick Broomfield, he is best
known for his reflexive style of documentary making. He films with minimal camera
crew, often just himself and a camera man, which makes his documentaries seem
more personal, he has had a lot of famous filmmakers that were inspired by his
filming techniques. They engage the audience by making them more aware of the
problems, the documentary maker faces while they make the film. Reflexive
documentaries tend to be the most truthful, as they always focus on realism, and
try to show things exactly as they happen, without editing or special effects.

Performative:
Performative documentaries try to involve an emotional reaction by using strongly
personal, unconventional and occasionally hypothetical enactments of events
designed to make us experience what it may feel like for us to possess a certain
specific perspective on the world that is not our own, for example the documentary
of black, gay men in Marlon Rigg's Tongues Untied.

Realism:

Realism documentaries attempt to show the viewers exactly how something would
be seen as if it was being shown right in front of the viewers for instance live. Doing
this eliminates all of the other documentary productions as they use editing in order
to make it look more professional and neat as they cut out the bad bits which may
take place during the documentary. However with realism documentaries they try to
show you the subject matter as unedited as possible, and they do this by using as
little editing as possible.

Dramatization
Dramatization is when a real event is recreated using actors and scripts. It is usually
used in documentaries when the event was not filmed but they want to show us
exactly what visually happened. A great example of this is on the famous BBC show
'Crime Watch' where crimes are recreated to show audience what happened. They
can quite often be biased especially if it is recreating something from history as
there is often little proof to go off.

Narrativization
Narrativization documentary's are basically a storytelling documentary that strives
to tell a strong, and often character-driven story that have a beginning, middle and
an end, with something at stake, rising tension and a narrative arc that keeps
viewers actively engaged, for instance in catfish the visual area of the TV show isn't
that appealing but it's more focused on the actual information that gets you hooked
into the television program. For instance in this documentary it narrates about the
most dangerous animals.

https://www.writersstore.com/documentary-storytelling-the-drama-of-real-life/
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