Documentary mini task.

 

Documentary mini task.

A documentary is a type of film/television which tells the story of a true story/ event in an informative way, the purpose of a documentary is to educate, inform and entertain.

The key features of a expository documentary are: objective presentation. The job of an expository documentary is to provide information for the viewers in a neutral way that avoids any biased or favorable opinions from the doc maker about the subject being portrayed. This allows the views to be able to make their own opinions about the subject based on the information provided by the documentary. Expository documentaries also have the most direct style of storytelling and is the best doc style to get straightforward information. An example of a expository documentary is an inconvenient truth. It came out in 2006 and was produced by Davis Guggenheim.

The main role of an observational documentary is to observe the world. Some key features of an observational documentary are naturalistic filmmaking, observational documentaries attempt to capture stories as they happen, so that the piece remains authentic and does not become unnatural. This means that producers of an observational documentary don’t want to interfere with the story to much as they don’t want it to seem scripted or manipulated. Another key feature of an observational documentary is that it tries to avoid using interviews or narration in the documentary and instead tries to let the events happening in the documentary speak for itself. An example of an observational documentary is Harlan County USA it was directed by Barbara Kopple.

Interactive documentaries use technology to reel in viewers and capture their interest, the key features of an interactive documentary are digital platforms interactive documentary’s make the most out of technology by using digital platforms such as websites and applications in order try and make a interactive experience for viewers. User engagement, interactive documentaries have active audiences meaning instead of having viewers that watch a documentary passively, like with a more traditional style of documentary, views can make decisions and can explore different paths. An example of an interactive documentary is journey to the end of coal.

Access and privacy are very important things to get right when producing a documentary specifically when it comes to releases and getting permission for people or companies to be in the documentary as well as locations. These things can sometimes be tricky and can have big impacts on the production process as if not executed properly the documentary producers could find themselves in trouble that could have negative effects on the documentary.

Reflexive documentaries have some similarities to expository documentaries however instead of exploring a topic this style of documentary draws all the attention to the act of making the documentary. Key features of a reflexive documentary are: filmmaker presence, reflexive documentaries try to make the presence of the filmmaker obvious and draw the attention to them, the filmmakers’ choices and decisions become a big part of the narrative. Self-reflection, the filmmakers discuss themselves within the documentary. An example of a reflexive documentary is exit through the gift shop, directed by street artist Banksy.

Key features of a performative documentary are, filmmaker presence, performative documentaries make the filmmaker a main character in the documentary’s story, personal exploration, these documentaries often center around the filmmakers’ emotions, memories and experiences. An example of a performative documentary is wont you be my neighbor. Dramatisations and re-enactments are used to show experiences, emotions and memories, this allows filmmakers to show their own perspective.

I think that a documentarist has a duty to their viewer to ensure a few different things, make sure that they are portraying the story that they are following properly, meaning that they make sure to be truthful and unbiased whilst avoiding staging anything to try and make it more interesting.