Genre Documentaires

Expository

- ‘Voice of God’ narration

- Direct presentation of facts

- Can include all kinds of ‘evidence’

Planet Earth and March of the Penguins are two documentaries’, which fit within the documentary mode, ‘Expository’. These documentaries fit in with the mode, as they are both narrated by an expert of the documentary and directly give facts about the programs, which are being shown. Expository documentaries sometimes use rhetorical questions and persuasive techniques in some cases. Planet Earth uses some rhetorical questions, which fits in with the documentary itself.

Performative

- Relies on recreations

- Mix of drama and documentary

The two documentaries’, which fit in with the Performative theme of documentary, are Panorama and Crime watch. The reason Panorama is Performative is because they mainly reenact crimes which have happened in the past, the reason for this is so that they can pass on information about previous crimes and to warn people about them as well. Crime watch also used real life footage about crimes however may have to use actors to describe or reenact a crime scene, which could of happened.

Observational

- Minimal (or no) narration

- Long takes, real time, synch-sound

- Presents tense

- Never (almost) see or hear the filmmakers

Teen cribs and 16 and pregnant are two documentaries which observe peoples events which happen in there lifetime. The producer, director and film crew follow there chosen people with there consent and then show on TV there reality shows, none of these documentaries have narration they are just spoken by the people whose life are being observed.

Interactive

- Filmmaker is present on screen

- Filmmaker makes the action happen

- Often a personal project

Two documentaries, which fit in with the Interactive theme of documentaries are, Supersize me the film maker for this documentary is Morgan Spurlock, this interacts as Morgan Spurlock is actually on screen creating this documentary this is also a very personal documentary to some people as it talks and shows about peoples weight issues. Another personal project turned into a documentary is the elephant man this was created by David Lynch this also interacts with the audience and Joseph Merrick who suffers from the disease of having elephant features.

Experimental

- Pretty much anything goes

Experimental documentaries are usually made from a personal account; the filmmakers are experimenting with different forms of media to get a different ‘unique’ style of documentary for the audience. Also an experimental documentary is an artistic practice . Experimental documentaries have no limits at all they can be about anything, so there are a huge variety of experimental documentaries. One documentary ‘Mayhem’ by Abigail Child is about social order and how sexuality flows in an atmosphere of sexual tension, danger, violence, and glamour. Its is clearly a experimental documentary because of its vastly odd topic.