Documentary mini task

Documentary ‘mini-task’ 

Introduction

Now a days documentaries are becoming more and more popular in that they are broadcaster on more popular TV channels an appeal to a much wider audience, documentaries are films that will attempt to document reality even though the cinematography and the scenes are carefully chosen out they are normally not scripted and the people who are in them are typically not actors. Mostly documents will rely on a voice-over narration to describe what is happening in the footage the audience is viewing but sometimes the film will speak for itself, they often include interviews with people to add additional context or information. I define a documentary as a film which focuses on a certain topic and analyzing and explains all about the topic to the audience so they get a more detailed view of it.



Expository documentaries

Expository mode explores documentaries which include factual information and figures, having interviews to back up the topic. They typically have a voice over which will directly address the audience on what is happening in the images being shown.The aim of an expository documentary is usually to inform the audience about a place, an event etc. with which they are not familiar. Main conventions of an expository documentaries are- a voice over which addresses the audience, rhetorical questions, facts, opinions and persuasive techniques. A good example of an expository documentary is Living amongst Gorillas by Thomas Behrend a revealing look at these rare and glorious creatures, and the passionate conservationists who devote their lives to observing and protecting them.

Reflexive documentary
The Reflexive Mode acknowledges the constructed nature of documentary and flaunts it -
conveying to people that this is not necessarily "truth" but a reconstruction of it - "a" truth, not "the" truth. It is usually associated with experimental documentaries, where the viewer is just as interested about how the film is constructed as they are are the actual content. Codes and conventions of reflexive documentaries are techniques from fiction film for an emotional, subjective response. Emphasises the expressive nature of film; anti-realist techniques e.g. re-enactments, expressive lighting, dramatic music. Voiceover (when present) is likely to be questioning and uncertain rather than authoritative. An example is Biggie and Tupac by Nick Broomfield, the film introduces Russell Poole, an ex-cop with damning evidence that suggests the LAPD deliberately fumbled the case to conceal connections between the police, LA gangs and Death Row Records, the label run by feared rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight.

 

Performative documentary 

This mode is linked with reflexive because they both investigate the relationship between the real world and the way in which documentaries represent it. Reflexive documentary reveal how documentaries are produced as representations based on the construction and manipulation of the image. The performative documentary takes this idea further, explicitly challenging the idea of documentary truth, emphasizing instead the process of film language itself. Codes and conventions of peformative documentaries are the crew interactive with the subject, often shaped into the narrative of an investigation, the audience is addressed in an emotional and direct way, subject matter often concerns identity. An example is Supersize me by Morgan Spurlock in which a social experiment in fast-food gastronomy sees him attempting to subsist uniquely on food from the McDonald's menu for an entire month.

Interactive Documentary

The filmmaker is often the central character in the film with the emphasis on their interaction with the people they meet and these people’s reactions to them. Techniques include filmmaker’s voiceover (with pronounced use of ‘I’) hand-held camera and an emphasis on informal interviews. Codes and conventions of an interactive documentary is the crew interacts with the camera, interviews dominate but tend to be informal, location shooting hand held camera, voiceover usually by the documentary maker. An example of an interactive documentary is Living with Michael Jackson in which Martin Bashir interviewed Michael Jackson over a span of 8 months, from May 2002 to January 2003.

Observational Documentary

The documentary maker follows the person around to observe life events, equipment can be informal such as hand held camera's and voice recorders. Usually no interviews are included and there is no voice over, an example of this is Peter Andre: The Next Chapter

it follows him around in his everyday life and allows the audience to reach whatever conclusion they like,there is no interviews either.