Documentary

A documentary film is a non-fictional motion-picture as based on a true story film and shows an accurate part of history, which documents reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record. Both feature films and documentaries use cinematography.

Documentary Types

An objective documentary

An objective documentary is a documentary storytelling which uses a variety of voices to share the facts in an unbiased way and which tries to balance a more complete story. It doesn't require persuasion to make its point.

A subjective documentary

A subjective documentary is based on personal beliefs and could ultimately be seen as being biased to one side of the story. The person questioning is using their own position to influence the opinions of the story.

Mockumentaries

Mockumentaries- meaning it is not real as it uses poking fun and parody but presents as a documentary. Similar to a mockumentary is a docucomdey (Documentary comedy) which is a type of film or television show. These productions are often used to analyse or comment on current events and issues by using a fictional setting.

Poetic

A poetic documentary is made generally for artistic reasons. The narrator themselves decides to make a narrative film and it is likely to be loose and experimental.  It often does not have a strong narrative behind it. Unusually, the film usually has no dialogue or narration, but focuses on imagery (often timelapse) with the music of composter as the key sound.

Expository

A expository documentary is a based real life of nature with wildlife, these are good examples of this style of filmmaking. The expository film is very smoothing and peace as good environmental. The narrator uses to help persuade the viewer in relation to the topic.

Observational

A observational documentary is often referred to as a fly on the wall documentary or direct cinema. Examples of observational techniques, are a lack of direct interviews, the use of a shaky camera and the lack of many camera angles.  There is also a lack of voiceover, narration and a soundtrack, and instead the film would mostly be made of  present footage in current real life.

Participatory

A participatory documentary is a subgenre of documentary filmmaking. The filmmaker is part of the film and is usually the main interviewer in the film. When the filmmaker is interviewing people he is engaging with them to tell their stories, he usually has a warm and friendly personality to help the people he is interviewing to speak.  You often feel that they are telling the interviewer quite intermate and personal storoes. A key to the success of this style is the confidence and positivity that the filmmaker has with people who are strangers.  It is important that the filmmaker can make them feel relaxed listened to. So in this genre the filmmaker has direct interaction with the other people in the film.

Evolution of Titling 

The evolution of titles for films and TV has seen titles that reflect or create a mood for the film that is to follow. Initially titles were basic and very similar from one film to the next.  As technology developed Different fonts combined with music and film created unique titles for a film or TV programme that were instantly recognisable. TV examples might be the titles for BBCs Dr Who, or the titles for James Bond movies. Documentary series also had strong identities. 

Documentary Codes and Conventions

Traditionally the following form the conventions of documentary films:

Archival Footage and materials

These could be old photographs, news reel footage, other old films with relavent content and personal items often written material or objects that link directly to the subject of the documentary.

Talking Heads

This is a term used for people with expert knowledge or direct experience of the subject of the documentary that are employed to be interviewed so that they can explain or comment on some aspect of the topic being discussed in the film.

Jiggly Camera

A wobbly camera is often a signature style used in documentaries. This is a more modern trend as cameras have become more portable. The stability of the older larger cameras that were not easily moved around has been traded for the easily portable modern cameras that can be held in one hand and used to follow action as it unfolds.  It gives an immediate and real sense to the film. New stabilising technologies have made the cameras more stable.

Voiceover Narration
Voiceover narration occurs when a voice is heard on the soundtrack without a matching source in the image. In other words we hear the voice speak but we cannot see the speaker utter the words. The voice often explains or comments on the visuals. Early documentary made extensive use of this convention, including Pare Lorentz's When the Plow Broke the Plains and The River. A more contemporary example is Ansel Adams.

Re-enactments
A re-enactment stages real events that already have occurred. Sometimes they include the people who experienced the events originally, but more often they incorporate actors playing parts. The Thin Blue Line makes extensive use of this convention to assist in making its argument. Most documentary filmmakers shoot events where they actually occur.

Real People
For the most part, the people we see in a documentary are real people. We can assume that if we went to Flint, Michigan, we may meet the "Pets or Meat" lady from Roger & Me. Or if we went to Texas, we may meet the people participating in the content to win a new truck in Hands on a Hard Body.

Structure

A good documentary needs structure which in turn needs planning and organising. It is like story telling.  You need need a strong beginning to capture the audience's interest. This is followed by the main part with filming, voiceover, narration, dialogue etc. When the main story has been told then it is always good to finish by summarising the points covered allowing the audience to make up their own minds.

Creating a Pitch

I created a presentation using Google slides to present my ideas for my documentary about the experience of video gaming for deaf people like me. My Presentation Pitch is called "A Quiet Quest: Gaming in a Deaf World". Most young people of my generation enjoy video gaming. This is true for both hearing people and deaf people. I wanted to explore how our experiences were different and what factors are taken by Games creators to make gaming fun for everyone.