DOCUMENTARIES

A documentary is a factual film or series that uses factual information to educate the watcher. Different documentaries about different subjects will have different set ups, colours and editing processes. There are 6 different types of documentaries:

Poetic: A poetic documentary is one made without linear continuity in favour of mood, tone or juxtaposition of imagery. Example: Nostalgia For The Light.

Expository: An expository documentary is made with a specific view point to expose something, usually an injustice. Example: Black Fish.

Reflexive: A reflexive documentary focuses on the relationship between the audience and the film maker. Example: Man With A Movie Camera.

Observational: An observational documentary is essentially a fly-on-the-wall style film that records daily lives and routines without interfering. Example: Educating Yorkshire.

Performative: A performative documentary is when the presenter/narrator gets involved with the subject(s) for more honest responses and the ability to go of topic to try and uncover more about their story. Example: The Most Hated Family In America.

Participatory: A participatory documentary is similar to a performative documentary except the side that the film maker is on is seen as the right side. Example: Roger & Me.

DOCUMENTARY ANALYSIS

I have chosen 3 documentaries to do an analysis:

My Scientology Movie

This is a scene from the performative documentary My Scientology Movie by Louis Theroux. In this scene they are talking about how they will need to succeed in order to stop future generations from dying. When said out of context this can seem quite random but the man the Louis is interviewing makes a point by saying that he was in the Scientology church and he had that same mind-set for over 20 years, this is something that only a performative documentary can achieve because when you talk to someone in an environment that they are comfortable with can help them to say what they want to say without being forced. The reason why I chose this documentary is because I am a documentary in a somewhat similar style.

The Office

The Office is a Mockumentary which is a comedy in the style of a documentary and although it technically isn't a documentary it still fits the description. In the clip shown there is a mixture of interview and standard filming segments so that it feels like an actual documentary and that a film crew is coming in to a work space and getting genuine reactions from people in certain situations. There are segments where 'The Boss' is showing the film crew around and introducing people, these segments are more focused on comedy so it may not be as professional as the interview setting. The reason why I chose this mockumentary is because my plan b was to make one of my own and this seemed like a good example to lead by.

The Social Dilemma

This scene is from the expository documentary The Social Dilemma. It has interviews with people who work for different social media companies talking about how they have people watching what everybody does online. The effects during the animated parts have a dark blue tint as a way to make the audience feel like what is going on is a shady business, this makes it more like fear mongering and propaganda than an informative documentary. The reason why I chose this documentary is because it uses graphics and colours and that is something that I am hoping to use that in my own documentary.

Although the purpose of a documentary is to show what is true there are certain things that they can't show for the same reasons as any other movie or TV show, sometimes for the sake of not offending people but mostly for the age rating that it has; as David Attenborough once said "People who complain about our documentaries being to violent should see what we leave on the cutting room floor."