Documentary genres

Documentaries have different genre types. they are;

- Observational; when the documentary investigator makes them self unknown to the camera and focuses on the the topic that they are interviewing. An example of this would be some of the channel 4 short shorts on YouTube, where they they interview people who tell stories about what they do, such as the pro gamers, in which documents popular online gamers talking about their success.

- Expository; When the investigator is unknown to the audience but their presence is made known through voice overs and questioning the interviewees in the background of interviews. An example of this would be David Attenborough's documentary's about Africa where he observes and narrates the animals every move.

- Interactive; When the investigator presents the documentary and is made known by voice overs (non-diegetic), interviewing people face to face (shot reverse shot) and narrating to the camera (diegetic). An example of this would be BBC Three's series of Documentary's presented by Reggie Yates about difficulties in other cultures such as Race Riots USA.

- Reflexive; Focuses on social issues and realism to make the audience aware of whats happening in other cultures and societies without special effects or editing techniques. The emphasis is on the film maker and the audience rather than the film maker and the subject in which the film maker addresses the audience directly, and viewers opinions are swayed towards those made by the documentary maker. Louis Theroux is a BBC two journalist who specifically makes reflexive documentaries that focus on social issues, in which he leads an investigation showing why these problems are the way they are.

- Poetic; The poetic mode was introduced into documentaries in the 1920’s as a “reaction against the content of the early fiction film”. The poetic mode “moves away from the ‘objective’ reality of a given situation or people, to grasp at an “inner truth” that can only be grasped by poetical manipulation”. The audience are shown an abstract representation of reality achieved through editing  techniques in which is done using emphasised visuals, non-diegetic incidental music or soundtrack for mood and effect and a non-linear, abstract narrative organised to fit the mood of the documentary rather than the  logical organisation films. Joris Ivans 1928 documentary Rain is a perfect example of this as it follows an abstract non-linear structure with no narration and uses music to create a mood and atmosphere to get a feel for the documentary.

After investigating into each of these documentaries and taking in the different styles and approaches, I have decided to create a combination of both observational and observatory documentary. I will achieve this by showing the audience some kind of involvement and interaction with the interviews and potentially experimenting with voice overs during the editing process. By experimenting and taking on two genres, I can learn along the way more about styles of documentary and what kind of documentary maker I want to be.