(Blue Planet 2 | 2017)
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. "Blue Planet 2" is a recent documentary by the extremely well known broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, who has become well known for being the voice of many expository docs during his lifetime. This film, similar to many of his others, involves Attenborough giving an educational voice-over to clips of nature and animals that inhabit many areas of our Earth, specifically being the ocean in the case of this specific film. These types of documentaries predominantly attempt to achieve an experience consisting of both pure objectivity and fact, often teaching the viewers of the film new information about the subject it is revolved around that they may not have known prior to watching.https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p04tjbtx/blue-planet-ii
(The Making of South Park: 6 Days to Air | 2011)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. The documentary "6 Days to Air" is a good example of this form of doc, revolving around the short creation process of an average episode of the popular american animated sitcom 'South Park' by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. This type of documentary allows transparent records of whatever event is being covered to be shown in a neutral and non - judgemental way, like in this specific film where the viewer is simply given a deeper insight into the short creation process of the show's episodes, how it affects the people who work on the show and how their thought process changes during each creative week on the show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgkbiVURAlQ
(Full Force | 2019)
In interactive documentaries, some presence of the filmmaker is evident to those watching throughout its runtime. For example, the YouTube documentary "Full Force" created by Ian 'Idubbbz' Carter follows Ian himself travelling Michigan, getting to meet and get an insight into the life of a fellow creator, known on the internet as 'AirsoftFatty', who turns out to have a very interesting life and personality surrounding him. The video includes clips of Ian talking straight to the camera about the events which are being shown in retrospect, as well as footage of Ian interviewing those around the house he visited and events that took place between those they went out to film during the video's creation. 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 the fine details.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfwPL-bd_mk&t=5s
(Man With a Movie Camera | 1929)
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 capturing 'everyday life', used as bricks to ultimately make quite experimental films and experiences. The Russian film from 1929 which goes under the name of "Man with a Movie Camera" in English is a great example of one of these more abstract types of documentaries. It is clear right from the beginning that this documentary is not like any of the other forms mentioned above in terms of its final product, telling the viewer in text on the screen before any of the clips begin these words in Russian: "this film is an experiment in cinematic communication of real events... without the help of a story". The entire sixty-six minute long feature is completely empty of any voice-over, characters, clear plot or story, and instead is filled solely with clips of soviet Russia from the time period it was filmed. This all leaves the person watching with complete responsibility of what they come out of the viewing experience with, their emotions throughout, and if they have learned anything about the subject it covered or if they feel any different after seeing the visuals they did.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGYZ5847FiI&t=656s
(The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann | 2019)
The final form of documentary mentioned above is known as performative. 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. The 2019 Netflix limited series "The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann" was a series of eight roughly forty-five minute to hour long performative documentaries, all revolving around the story of the infamous missing child case from 2007. All of these things are done within this form of documentary, due to the fact that the film-makers of these types of documentaries often include them 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.https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80194956
- CONCLUSION -
In conclusion, I would have to say that from the documentaries I have personally watched throughout my life so far, I would class the interactive style as my favourite. Assuming that the personality of the film maker is decent and not bad, I like getting an insight into their thought process behind doing or researching whatever they are in the film, as well as seeing their reactions to what is happening alongside my own. On top of this, the interactive docs with a good person leading them can often add that extra bit of comedy or enjoyability to the film for me. When it comes to unbiased and objective presentation, the expository and observational formats arguably present the information within its content the best. Both forms often present information to the viewer in different ways, either being explained by a voice-over in expository, or simply showing them events occurring and letting them learn from the visuals or the people within the events explaining things in observational, but are the same in the aspect that neither include anything within the films that is not authentic. For example, these forms do not include any opinions held by the film-makers or re-enactments of any events which are being discussed, like in interactive and performative documentaries respectively. The forms that do include these features can often do so in a way that'll affect the opinions of the viewers, especially when the film-makers portray their own opinions on the subject they are covering through the film, which some argue is wrong, as they as the creator of a documentary have a responsibility to present the viewer with unbiased and accurate factual information to those who are watching - personally, I do not fully argue with this argument. While I do believe it is true that documentaries that claim to be educational should stay very strictly to facts and not bend any of the information they present in order to create their own agenda before the viewer, I think that as long as it is made clear to the viewer in some way that the doc will include some kind of opinions and personal beliefs from the creator from the beginning, it is completely fine for them to concentrate more on the entertainment side of the film (as long as no blatant lies are told unless it is made clear to be a parody beforehand), as I do not think that all documentaries need to be strictly educational (especially with the wide variety of styles available to make documentaries in nowadays).
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