Introduction
A
documentary is a factual programme which gives us information about a certain
topic or subject. There are different types of documentaries, from expository,
observational, interactive, reflexive and performative. They all do the same
thing, yet in very different ways.
Expository
documentaries
For an
expository documentary, key features include the fact that these documentaries
are made to expose a person or a topic, with a usual voiceover explaining
what’s going on in detail about the case at hand.
An example I
found of this was a documentary going over a case back in 1968, known as “The Mary Bell Case”, which talks about
the case of a child murderer. Not as in the sense of a grown adult who killed
children, but the sense of a child killing others. The main voiceovers are to
do with interviewees who agreed to be interviewed over the case of Mary Bell
and of the narrator who explains certain things at key parts. The documentary
itself is mainly composed of photographs and old pieces of film to illustrate
the fact about Mary Bell’s case, alongside the interviews with said people in
question. It’s an example of expository documentary, since it’s mainly filled
with voiceovers and such. It doesn’t really observe too much and really uses
historical records mainly for its filming.
Observational
documentaries
An
observational documentary is quite different from an expository documentary.
Unlike where you have voiceovers and interviews from the subjects, the film
maker is practically uninvolved with anything that their subjects are doing. So
they just film them as they are, with no interference made by them.
For an
example of this type of documentary is a documentary called “Rough Aunties” by the director Kim
Longinotto, released back in 2008. This is about a group of women in South
Africa fighting against the rampant sexual abuse of poverty-stricken children.
Of course, these stories are rather bleak, however there is still hope, colour,
song and uplifting moments which contrast to the despair.
Interactive
documentaries
Interactive
documentaries are the complete opposite to an observational documentary. Whilst
observational documentaries are where the film maker stay completely out of the
way and just watch as the things play out, interactive documentaries are where
the film maker becomes directly involved with the events or subjects that are
being filmed.
An example
of an interactive documentary would be one of the Louis Theroux documentaries,
known as “Louis Theroux: Twilight of the
Porn Stars”, made back in 2012. This goes into depth about the porn
industry and the stresses and work that people who work within it go through.
It mainly consists of interviews and off filming of certain events, though it
doesn’t show anything too explicit.
Reflexive
documentaries
For a
reflexive documentary, it really focuses on how the documentary is filmed
rather than on the subjects that they are filming about. So, reflexive
documentaries are more focused on how they are filmed and made, challenging the
documentary’s apparent skill to reveal the “truth”.
An example
of such a documentary would be of “Driving
Me Crazy”, where it clearly shows the director, Nick Broomfield, in front
of the camera with his film crew and most of the documentary itself is about
the making of the film, more than the actual content, so it is a very good example
of a reflexive documentary.
Performative
documentaries
A
performative documentary is quite different from all other documentaries, since
they basically explore emotional and subjective aspects of a documentary and
also addresses the audience emotionally. Basically, this form is more emotional
instead of a normal style of documentaries.
An example
of such a documentary would be the documentary of “Tongues United”, which is a documentary all about a black gay man
who wants equality for all gays, not just of himself. This is a powerful
documentary, since it irks some really big emotions from the audience and also
some certain questions.
