Types of Documentary

• Fully Narrated• Fly On The Wall• Mixed

• Self Reflective• Docudrama• Docusoaps• Reality TV

A fully narrated documentary has a direct

mode of address. An off screen voice over will be added to make sense of the visuals, convey the exposition and dominate what is happening.

In many documentaries, this is referred to as ‘the voice of God’.

This type of documentary can be found in many science and nature documentaries, such as David Attenborough’s natural history documentaries.

Fully Narrated

Fly on the wall documentaries are when the camera is unseen or

ignored and simply records the unfolding events. These types of documentaries rely on entirely observations.

Fly on the wall documentaries consist of almost no narration, allowing the audience to watch events as if they are eye-witnesses and actually there.

The camera will be unobtrusive to the action taking place and will allow the audience to create their own conclusions.

These documentaries appear to portray reality and be ‘truthful’. Nevertheless, these types of documentaries are heavily edited, meaning that the documentary may only show a version of the truth.

These types of documentaries are often found in police and A&E documentaries, such as ‘Cops’ and ‘24 Hours in A&E’.

Fly On The Wall

Mixed documentaries use a combination of

interviews, observations, actuality footage, archive material and narration to help advance the argument.

In this type of documentary, the narrator will bond the story together, helping it to progress.

A lot of modern documentaries have adopted this particular style of documentary. It is commonly featured in documentaries about music, film etc.

Mixed

A self reflective documentary is where the camera

will follow a person, or group of people around. The person or people taking part will often acknowledge the camera by frequently speaking to it.

This type of documentary tends to lose it importance; it becomes more about the host than the topic.

Some examples of self reflective documentaries may include, ‘Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents’ and ‘Ross Kemp on Gangs’.

Self Reflective

Docudramas are documentaries which feature re-

enactments of events based upon fact with fictional narrative.

The re-enactments of events will be exactly like the original event that happened.

These types of documentaries do not film ‘actuality’ and therefore are the most likely to be misleading.

A great example of a docudrama would be BBC’s ‘Crimewatch’, a show where re-enactments of crimes are created (using actors) to help solve the crimes by portraying exactly what happened.

Docudrama

A docusoaps is a hybrid genre and is observational. They originated in the UK in the 1990’s and have become increasingly

popular over the past 10 years; many people like that it is a real life soap opra.

These types of documentaries are often long running and follow the daily lives of individuals or groups of people (often within a company or organisation). Docusoaps do not explore topics or arguments and instead allow people to look into the life of other people.

They will tend to follow a central protagonist which the audience will get to know well throughout the series.

These types of documentaries do not follow a storyline or feature actors, therefore making them low cost production.

Some people consider TV shows such as ‘Jersey Shore’ and ‘The Only Way is Essex’ as docusoaps, however this is often said to be untrue; these shows are scripted and therefore are not ‘reality’.

Some examples of docusoaps may include shows such as ‘One Born Every Minute’, ‘My Big Fat Gyspy Wedding’ and ‘Educating Yorkshire’.

Docusoaps

Reality TV began between 1989 and 1999. Reality TV is factual; it is real life drama. It is known as ‘infotainment’, meaning a combination of

information and entertainment. Reality TV is primarily produced for entertainment

purposes, however at the same time conveys information. Reality TV can be a mixture of authentic and commercial

material. It often consists of the use of camcorder, surveillance,

observation and commentary. Some examples of reality TV include shows such as ‘An

American Family’, ‘True Life’ and ‘Airport’ (UK).

Reality TV

Types of Narrative Structure

Open vs. Closed

The question of the documentary is left unanswered and has loop ends

All questions throughout the documentary are answered and there are no loop ends

Single Strand vs. Multi-strand

There is only one narrative thread/storyline

There is more than one narrative thread. Sometimes the narrative threads converge.

Linear vs. Non-linear

Follows a chronological order

Does not follow time order – use of flashbacks and flash forwards