Different Types of Documentaries

Documentary 1: Observational Documentary

Information about it: Observational documentary is a style of documentary film that tries to capture real-life situations without interfering with them. The observational documentary mode, often known as cinéma vérité, direct cinema, or fly-on-the-wall filmmaking, falls between lyrical and explanatory documentary.

1st Characteristic: Realism and immediacy: To promote a feeling of realism, an observational documentary follows people or events in real-time, often detailing daily life. The film team follows the action spontaneously, giving the film a sense of immediacy and freshness.
2nd Characteristic: Handheld shots: An observational documentary takes full advantage of portable cameras, using handheld shots to follow subjects or scenes that would otherwise be impossible to follow.
3rd Characteristic: Long takes: Since filmmakers are following action as it takes place, observational documentaries often employ long takes without any editing to further enhance the realism and immerse viewers in the scene.
4th Characteristic: Little to no voice-over: Since observational documentary filmmakers are interested in objectivity more than a clear message, they let their footage speak the loudest. Where expository documentaries have extensive “voice of god” voice-over narration that tells viewers how to feel about what’s happening on-screen, observational documentaries have little or no voice-over at all to avoid the filmmakers’ intrusive point of view.
5th Characteristic: No re-enactments: While other documentary forms employ actors reenacting scenes that the camera didn’t capture, an observational documentary rejects this method as shattering the realism of the film.

Why it stood out: It stood out because the filmmaker is completely uninvolved in the process; their only purpose is to capture the events that take place and grasp the real life emotions or reactions of its subject.

Why it was interesting/different: In most documentaries there are voice overs telling the viewer what’s happening on the screen or there are reenactments of scenes they missed so the audience can understand what is happening. However, observational documentaries don’t do any of that; so if they miss information it is on the subject to either figure out how to alert the audience or let it go. The viewer could make accusations based on context clues which is interesting because it plays with the audience and unintentionally gets the viewer thinking.

Some possible ideas to input: Deciding on the type of storyline I want to do for my film is dependent on how deeply I want to show my main character. If I want to show them in a more natural setting then inputting this sort of “letting the characters run wild” would really capture that factor.

Documentary 2: Participatory Documentary

Information about it: Participatory documentary is a subgenre of documentary filmmaking in which the filmmaker is included in the film's narrative and directly interacts with the film's subjects. In this type of documentary form, the filmmaker may appear in front of the camera during an interview, be heard as voiceover behind the camera, and can even appear on camera without any other subjects.

1st characteristic: The filmmaker is a character; meaning they should be shown or heard at some point in the film.
2nd characteristics: Interviewers' questions are included in the film. Gives the audience a sort of “behind the scenes” look of the film.
3rd characteristic: The viewer is aligned with the filmmaker; meaning the audience can see how the filmmaker reacts in a certain situation.

Why it stood out: The participatory documentary stands out because the effect of the filmmaker's presence can be minimal, or it may be a major influence on the narrative. This changes the type of storyline regardless and leaves the audience feeling more included in the film.

Why it was interesting/different: This mode of documentary is interesting because in most documentaries the filmmakers are not shown or heard in the film and will have little to no impact on the film itself.

Some possible ideas: This sort of documentary reminds me of vlogs. There are some vlogs that ask a bunch of random people questions and they record with one hand and hold the mic up to the person with the other. The participatory documentary mode has little to do with the type of film I want to produce, but is a very interesting type of documentary that I could implement the behind the scenes look into my future film.

AICE Media A Level #2343