DOCUMENTARY

What is a Documentary?

A documentary is a factual film that specifically reports on one subject. Usually, the events that take place in a documentary are not staged so they have a sense of realism about them. Fiction films are set up & seem to avoid the reality, documentaries are distinguished from this & they must have a sense of authenticity to them. They usually use the style of interviewing people who are involved in the real events that the film makers are exploring, including pictures/footage & stats. 

Bill Nichols identified & distinguished five different documentary categories these include, Expository, Observational, Interactive, Reflexive and Performative documentary. I will explore & research each type of documentary myself.

Expository Documentary

Expository documentaries are documentaries that uncover a person or a certain topic. This is usually done by a voiceover, addressing the topic & providing arguments accompanied by images. The intention of a expository documentaries are to provide a particular argument with descriptive & important information. This type of documentary is often referred to as the "classic" documentary. A good example for this type of documentary is Backstairs Billy: The Queen Mum's Butler (2009). This documentary explores the life of William Tallon, who was devoted to serving to Queen Elizabeth the 1st, Queen Elizabeth the 2nd  & Princess Diana. The documentary shows images/videos from his life living with royalty to being alone in his flat surrounded by paparazzi. 

Observational Documentary

Otherwise known as Direct Cinema, Observational Documentary differs from Expository as there is no voice of narration, no intertitles & interviews. The film maker has absolutely no involvement in the filmed events. Usually, the documentary film makers are inclined to shoot the documentary in long takes. An example of a Observational Documentary is a film I watched during my second year of Film Studies, Etre Et Avoir - To Be and To Have - Nicolas Philibert, (2002). This documentary explores the lives of young children, aged from 4-11 in a single classroom taught by dedicated French teacher George Lopez. In the documentary, we see a lot of evens that were seemingly unstaged of Lopez & the children, no voiceover narration & an interview with George Lopez himself, the lives of the children at home & in class in rural France.  Once Philibert had released the documentary there was a lot of speculation that Lopez's image in the documentary was exploited without authorisation. This resulted in an attempt of a $2,000,000 lawsuit against Philibert. 

Interactive Documentary

An interactive Documentary contrasts with the Observational, this is made present when the film makers of this type of Documentary choose to formally or informally remain in the shot, interacting with the interviewees. This is different from the Expository & Observational as the Expository has a voice of narration, although remains off screen is heard by the spectators & the Observational has absolutely no narration & "attempts to hide the presence of the film maker from the spectator". The film maker is often the main person on screen, this allows the spectators to follow the film maker's & gives it a real sense of authenticity. Access and Privacy is an issue when making an interactive as you will need to arrange interviews/appointments, have releases/permissions will all be required. These are all essential for documentaries, especially interactive when you'll need to be arranging discussions with people for your film. Interactive Documentary will also set up a balanced argument with not only the film makers opinions but the interviewees. A good example of an Interactive Documentary would be Michael Moore's Bowling For Columbine (2002). This documentary explores the Columbine Shootings whilst meeting up with survivors who are permanently scarred, with real footage, pictures & meeting with students that witnessed & survived. On some accounts, Moore doesn't set up a balanced argument as he usually tries to express his own personal views on the spectators by staging some of the scenes.

Reflexive Documentary

A Reflexive Documentary attempts to reveal how the documentary itself is constructed so the "film making process become(s) the main focus of attention" for the spectators who are not only interested in the film but the process of who it is created. The film makers, just like Interactive, will present themselves in the documentary and provide a narrative. Reflexive Documentaries rely heavily on their film makers to reveal not just the truth but their own renditions of the truth & how they came to that opinion. Nick Broomfield, a documentary maker who is known for working & expressing his work in a reflexive way has created many documentaries that focus on opinions that have shaped him. He usually uses a small camera crew to help film, other times he will film himself to make it seem more personal as well as being in front of the camera. 

Performative Documentary

Our final category, performative documentary, focuses it's attention to portray the world differently. It has been known to capture the world in a completely different way, that emphasizes the expressive dimensions. Instead of offering a balanced argument, it usually tries to provoke the spectators to feel how the film makers feel about the certain topic, as well as evoking the atmosphere. An example of this category would be Cowboy Builders. This series is played on Channel 5 about builders who leave homes/buildings dangerously unfinished & presenters, Dominic Littlewood & Melinda Messenger going to find out why. These presenters address the audience leaving the spectators to feel quite angry & it's also quite comical. A lot of performative documentaries add in reenactments, this is so the spectators can witness what may have happened at the time & can think about the authenticity of the piece.

Conclusion

I believe that a documentary should remain truthful to the spectators, without any staged events it should all feel real. I think the documentary style that I like the most would be Interactive. I like the idea of interacting with interviewees & setting up a balanced argument. I believe the spectators like to have somebody to follow, with the film maker being on the screen for the majority of the film. I think the documentarists should try to keep to the truth as much as possible because I believe documentary film makers have to represent the truth in what they create. They have to think about "what sort of relationship do I want with my audience? What do I want them to feel?". I think it's important to think about these things as they have like a contract with the viewers. I don't think it's right to manipulate them with staging events but I think you can get away with adding some music for atmosphere. It's almost about hiding your editing so that the audience can really believe what they are watching without too much influence. I don't think lying or having staged events keeps it authentic & some viewers may pick up on it & your work may get a bad reputation for it. I think you should be able to portray the truth how you believe it should be told, for example, Man With A Movie Camera - Dziga Vertov (1928), shows real events that have happened during the revolutionary period but portraying it on how the film maker has filmed it using variations of shots. 

Bibliography

• Teach Yourself Film Studies - Warren Buckland - 2003
• http://www.slideshare.net/4cmackenzie/expository-documentaries1 - 25/02/2014
• https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=expository+documentary+define&oq=expository&aqs=chrome.0.69i59l2j69i57j69i60j0l2.2808j0j7&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8#q=documentary+define - 25/02/2014
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Columbine_Shooting_Security_Camera.jpg - 27/02/2014
• http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310793/?ref_=nm_knf_i1 -  27/02/2014
• http://www.slideshare.net/cheffernan/reflexive-documentaries - 27/02/2014
• http://aliceyoudd.blogspot.co.uk/ - 27/02/2014
• http://www.channel5.com/shows/cowboy-builders - 27/02/2014