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Presentation 6 1

The document describes 5 types of documentaries: expository, observational, participatory, reflective, and performative. Expository documentaries use voiceovers and visuals to tell a story, with editing combining these elements. Observational documentaries aim for realism by filming on location with handheld cameras and including synchronous recordings without voiceovers. Participatory documentaries feature interviews and include the creator interacting with subjects. Reflective documentaries use fictional film techniques like reenactments and storytelling without a clear message. Performative documentaries involve high creator inclusion directly engaging with subjects on personal, small-scale topics.

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91 views

Presentation 6 1

The document describes 5 types of documentaries: expository, observational, participatory, reflective, and performative. Expository documentaries use voiceovers and visuals to tell a story, with editing combining these elements. Observational documentaries aim for realism by filming on location with handheld cameras and including synchronous recordings without voiceovers. Participatory documentaries feature interviews and include the creator interacting with subjects. Reflective documentaries use fictional film techniques like reenactments and storytelling without a clear message. Performative documentaries involve high creator inclusion directly engaging with subjects on personal, small-scale topics.

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© © All Rights Reserved
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5 TYPES OF

DOCUMENTARY

Leo Griffiths
Expository
◦ Voice Over – The voice over is one of the most important parts in an expository documentary. The
narrator is usually doing the voice over and is there to talk to the audience directly.

◦ Visuals – Visuals are used to tell the story in a different way than with a voice over as with visual the
creator is allowed to show the audience information instead of telling them, which can be more
effective.

◦ Editing – Editing in a documentary allows the creator to bring everything together and combine things
like the voice over and the visuals, and the most common form of editing, jump cuts, allows the
documentary flow better and maintain continuity.
Observational
◦ Shooting – Observational documentaries are usually filmed on location with hand held cameras to make
it feel more natural and authentic. Doing this makes the documentary feel more real and personal having
a bigger impact on a person.

◦ Synchronous Recording – This is where the creator will film the action happening live at the time instead
of adding in a voiceover in post. This is done to engage the audience more and make them feel as if they
are there.

◦ Realism – Realism is what observational documentaries try to capture as there goal is to produce the
most authentic and believable footage possible. To do this the creator will try and exclude parts of
documentaries that feel out of place like interviews or voiceovers.
Participatory (Interactive)
◦ Shooting – Unlike observational documentaries a lot of work is done on and off screen in a
participatory documentary with interviews being crucial parts to them.

◦ Audio - Participatory documentaries probably feature the most amount of different audio types between
all documentaries. They use interview audio, on location audio and voiceover audio most commonly.

◦ Creator Inclusion - Participatory documentaries get there name because of creator inclusion. The
creator is the main character of the documentary and is usually responsible for how the audience feels
about the thing being interviewed as it is there job to push the narrative and engage with the audience.
Reflective
◦ Fictional Film Techniques – This technique is used almost exclusively in reflective documentaries. It is
where the creator makes the documentary seem more fictional by using re-enactments of events
to better convey them to the audience.

◦ Voiceover – The voiceover in a reflective type documentary is more familiar to the types of narrators
you'd see in movies and tv shows.

◦ Storytelling – Reflective documentaries convey they story in a more broader sense than others and are
designed to make the stories not have a clear message but rather let the viewer decide on it.
Performative
◦ Creator Inclusion – This technique is similar to a participatory documentary in where the creator is
more involved in the storytelling and will directly engage with the subject.

◦ Subject Matter – Performative documentaries usually have a more personal and smaller scale subject
matter than most and chose to focus on a how a certain person faces there day to day challenges rather
than a more grand and popular topic like a war.

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