DIFFERENT TYPES OF DOCUMENTARIES /DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CURRENT

AFFAIRS AND DOCUMENTARIES / FEATURES OF DOCUMENTARIES

Eloise Hatton

Fully Narrated

Fully Narrated – use a voice over to make sense of visuals included in the documentary, this voice over is known as ‘The Voice of God’. The voice over conveys the exposition. (Exposition means line of argument).

Fly on the Wall

Fly on the wall – relies entirely on observations and also includes the audience watching something as it happens and features a distorted version of the truth.

Viewers come to their own conclusions.

Mixed

Mixed – uses a mix of interviews, observation and narration. The narrative section in these types of documentaries is comparable to a news reporting.

They are more objective as they use a range of techniques within the documentary rather than focusing on one technique such as the narrative section.

Self - Reflexive

Self – Reflexive – is when the subject acknowledges the camera, and they usually become about the person in front of the camera rather than the actual issue/subject. Critics say that self-reflective documentaries fall into empty narcissi. They speak directly to the film maker.

Docu - Drama

Docu – drama – are a re-enactment of events that have occurred and are fictional narrative based on facts. Critics say that docudramas claim to represent the truth but can only ever hope to film fiction. Docudramas can be misleading and risky in some ways.

Docu - Soap

Docu – Soap – have become increasingly popular throughout the past 10 years, these types of documentaries follow peoples lives. Docudramas originated in Britain and have low production costs and people of ten become ‘famous’ from these documentaries.

Current Affairs

Current affairs – different from documentaries and are journalist based programmes addressing the news in more detail.

Differences between Current affairs and Documentaries

Current affairs are based on daily events and only have 5 -10 minutes where a documentary can take months to make.

Features of Documentaries

According to John Carner from the Uni of Liverpool there are 5 central elements of the documentary.

Observation –puts the audience in a role of eye witness where the camera appears to be on scene. In direct address to the audience (i.e. speech over heard is a common factor).

Interview – TV documentaries use interviews to make a contrast between observation sequences and are structured in two ways, either intercut fragments of observation or a completely uninterrupted sequences.

Dramatisation – even though all documentaries use a sense of drama it is specifically used to portray people and events the film maker can not gain access to in real life. These sequences are said to be based on fact.

Mise-en-scene – literally what the director and producers put in the frame (e.g. props/lighting/etc).

Exposition – the line of argument running through a documentary. (Does not always have to be verbal, it can be oral or visual).