Introduction: What is a documentary?
Good evening, throughout this assignment I will be taking you on a tour of
the main documentary terms. But first, what is a documentary? Googles
dictionary defines it as "A movie or a television or radio program that provides
a factual record or report." These documentaries can be divided into five
different 'modes' in which i will be discussing today, so with out further ado,
lets get to it.
Expository Documentary
An expository documentary is a documentary that exposes peoples lives.A
good example of this is the documentary, We are the Lambeth boys where it
focuses on a London youth club and its 350 members. The main conventions of
expository documentaries are:
Facts
Opinions
Rhetorical Questions
Persuasive Techniques
and Commentators
These are all used to give the audience the idea that its almost like a
news report and it is also used to educate people on current affairs, or just
interesting subjects.
A good example of an expository documentary is a documentary on youtube,
made by Joseph Waugh (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhOy9kJqqks)
which focuses on the safety around the campus, the do’s and don’ts and also
talks about the security in depth.
Observational Documentaries
An observational documentary is a documentary that has no voice over, no
interviews, and sometimes no talking. Usually they consist of long shots of
people going about their everyday business to no soundtrack, just the sounds of
the surrounding area. A great example of this is the documentary High school
where the entire film is just shots of high school students studying, playing,
and even learning. This film was deemed by few quite controversial as quite a
lot of the shots where of the young girls posteriors.
A good example of an observational documentary can be found on youtube,
made by jonnyp95, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucypclv14wU)
and it focuses on a green grocer in east London and the changing trade of the
market.
Interactive Documentaries
The next mode is called an interactive documentary, this is when the film
maker is seen talking to the audience and interacting with the world around
them instead of hiding being a camera and not letting the world know who they
are. A good example of this is the documentary, Louis and the Nazis', Louis
Theroux follows the lives of white supremacists. some business types, and some
even families raising their children in this environment. It is a lot harder to
get peoples permission to film when doing this kind of documentary because of
the fact that people might not want to their lives probed, and they do not want
to be paraded on TV, the privacy standards have to be higher because some
peoples life styles could be very disagreeable, and that could cause an outrage
in disgruntled part of the audience.
An example of an interactive
documentary would be 9500 liberty, (www.9500Liberty.com) which focuses on the controversy of police
questioning people who look like illegal immigrants, it talks about racial
profiling and how it is not right to judge someone from their appearance.
Reflexive Documentaries
A reflexive documentary is one in which the film maker uses shots of
everyday life, but only uses them as bricks in an even greater theoretical
wall, this format is used quite a bit to experiment. A great example of this is
the documentary, Territories, it focuses on Britain in 1984, and mainly on the
black-British and their cultures. To me, this film gave the impression that i
was under some sort of psychosis, and this is what I mean by it being
experimental.
A good example of a reflexive documentary would be the road (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sviHM5rNZ5A)
which was uploaded onto youtube by elautenticogc and it focuses on one man
talking to a woman while she is driving for ten minutes and it goes into great
detail on certain subject, this is also an experimental film in the sense that
it is just footage of a woman driving for ten minutes.
Performative Documentaries
A performative documentary is used to inform someone on a disaster, or a
mission, like the Columbine shooting, or the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. They use
eye witness interviews, and dramatisations to tell the story in a better way,
and sometimes they even you 3D animation technology to better understand the
situation. An example of this is the movie, The thin blue line, which is about
the testimonys of suspects from the shooting of a Dallas police officer in
1976. It uses dramatisations to better tell the story, re-enactment are used
quite often in this format because it makes it easier to understand than just
picturing it. Including them gives the audience much more of a grasp on the
situation and it is less likely going to make them tune out because they
understand exactly what is going on.
A good example of a performative documentary would be about the dunblane massacre
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krEfFI4N1Ms)
it uses dramatisations, and documentations to give evidence and to tell the
story of a school shooting in dunblane and the main reason why guns are banned
in Britain today.
Conclusion
I believe that documentaries are a great way to inform someone of a current
event, or of an event that happened years ago. They can also be greatly used to
give someone knowledge on what its like living in a different time period, or
as a different race. Not only that but it also shows you the weird people and
places, and as well as the incredibly extraordinary places and people. I
finally think that the film maker has a contract with the viewer, and that they
shouldn't create stuff up or blatantly lie to the audience. The film maker has
a responsibility to the public to give them reliable information.
Sources:
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