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Documentary

types of documentaries

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Yesha Shah
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6 views

Documentary

types of documentaries

Uploaded by

Yesha Shah
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Types of Documentary Films

Expository Documentary:

o Typically address the spectators directly through an on-screen commentator or

off-screen narration.

o Often make liberal use of interviews, b-roll, and archival footage.

Impressionistic:

o Tend to be lyrical rather than didactic, poetic rather than argumentative.


o Typically more self-consciously stylized and aestheticized than expository films,

but often incorporating many of the same elements.


Observational Documentary:

o Capturing the spontaneity and uninhibited flow of life and events as they happen.
o Often adopts the visual language of fictional film intended to articulate continuous

time and space (e.g. diverse camera angles, shot/reverse shot, close-ups, pans and tilts)
Reflexive Documentary:

o Self-conscious or self-reflexive style addresses the process of representation

itself and often foregrounds the relationship between the filmmaker and the spectators, as
well as between the filmmaker and the subjects.

o Some reflexive films are autobiographical -- the filmmaker may appear on screen

or talk to the audience in a voice-over. Others are more formally reflexive and highlight the
relationship between cinema and the world.
Experimental Documentary:

o Documentaries that donʼt easily fit any of the other categories. Often they draw

on allied art forms (painting, dance, sculpture, photography, etc.) and can even incorporate
elements of fiction.

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