Documentary Formats: Viewings

A 'documentary' when it comes to film is a piece of media which provides a factual report or insight on a particular subject, often with that being its main purpose. There are five main formats of documentary making. These five consist of expository, observational, interactive, reflexive and preformative. Out of the five documentaries we were set to view and research, this is how each fit into each documentary format:

We are the Lambeth Boys = Expository

High School = Observational

Louis and the Nazis = Interactive

Powaqqatsi = Reflexive

The Thin Blue Line = Performative

An expository documentary is a form of documentary which often includes a voice-over for a lot of its run, directly addressing the audience and viewers on what is happening on screen in the film, giving meaning to the events, but not any opinionated statements on them. The effect that this form of documentaries predominantly attempt to achieve is one of objectivity and fact. This definition fits well alongside the documentary 'We are the Lambeth Boys', which is intended to be a nostalgic look at London life in the 1950's. 

Observational documentaries are focused a lot more on simply presenting a slice of life to the viewer, without the presence of any kind of intervention from the filmmaker(s). They are hidden from sight throughout, leaving the doc to be centred a lot more on what is not contained, such as any interviews or commentary that may be present in the film. This type of documentary allows transparent records of whatever event is being covered to be shown in a  neutral and non - judgemental way, such as in the 1968 film 'High School' which takes a look at what education was like in Philadelphia during the time period of its filming.

In interactive documentaries, some presence of the filmmaker is evident to those watching throughout. Like in the Louis Theroux feature 'Louis and the Nazis', Louis (who takes position as the interviewer of the film many times) is on-screen in front of the camera for a large majority of the runtime, asking the people who are being interviewed their questions directly, also on camera. He is participating in the film while making it, interacting with both those seen on screen and us (the audience), and providing his own arguments and/or agendas to the text too, with manipulation of the text done through editing often being a lot more evident in this type of documentary compared to some of the others. Due to this, this mode of film making is sometimes criticised for "misrepresenting" and/or "manipulation" of what they are researching and showing in the final product, but are also defended by filmmakers because of the projected image being believed by many to be more important than fine details.

There is one form of documentary making which is known for the way it attempts to experiment with and expose the construction of the genre of film; these are known as reflexive pieces, documentaries which will consist of that capture 'everyday life', used as bricks to make quite experimental films, such as the documentary titled 'Powaqqatsi' (translating to "parasitic way of life" or "life in transition"), which focuses on exploring technologically developing countries over the world and the effects transition to western-like modernisation has on them. This film, like others of this form, is empty of voice-overs, clear opinions and agendas from the filmmaker(s), and a lack of presence from the creator as a whole.

The final form of documentary is known as performative. This form includes texts like 'The Thin Blue Line', using things like re-enactments of events which are discussed, specific soundtrack choices and exaggerated camera positions in order to create more emphasis on the text's presentation that on its content. All of these things are done in order to help submerge the audience entirely into the narrative, and present the subject matter that the film is revolved around in a very subjective, stylised, visceral and expressive manner.