Modes of documentary

Expository Documentary
1. Commonly seen on TV rather than in documentaries made for the to be more commonly seen on TV rather than in documentaries made for the cinema. The documentary techniques used include a voiceover narration, commenting on the images and explaining what is happening in a direct address to the audience. The aim of an expository documentary is usually to inform the audience about a place, an event etc with which they are not familiar. Usually an expository documentary will develop an argument - it is not objective. An example would be:



2. Observational documentary
Also known as "fly-on-the-wall" and it attempts to represent the world as it is. Techniques include long takes, hand-held camera, with no interiews or voiceover narration, in an attempt to capture a slice of life. In the observational documentary, the audience should not be aware of the filmmaker, making it very different from other modes such as the participatory documentary. An example would be:



3. Participatory (interactive) documentary
In opposition in the observation style, the filmmaker is foregrounded in the participatory mode, making it explicit that the film is made from their point of view. The filmmaker is often the central character in the film with the emphasis on their interaction with the people that they meet and these people's reaction tot them. Techniques include filmmaker's voiceover (with pronounced use of 'I'), hand-held camera and an emphasis on informal interviews.



4. Reflexive Documentary



5. Performance Mode
The final two modes are linked because they both investigate the relationship between the real world and the way in which documentaries represent it. Reflexive documentary reveals 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, emphasising instead the process of film language itself.