Documentary Film is a nonfictional motion picture used to document reality, the main purpose being for education, instruction or keeping a historical record. It has been described as a ‘filmmaking practice, a cinematic tradition, and a mode of audience reception’, always evolving and has no boundaries. They were originally known as ‘actuality’ films, only being a minute or less in length. Documentaries have evolved overtime to become longer and including more categories. They are often used in schools for educational purposes. Platforms such as YouTube have documentary films, giving documentaries a way to improve distribution and being able to educate the reach of people who gain the information.
Types of documentary film
Poetic
A Poetic documentary has a subjective and artistic expression. They have a topic which is personal to those involved, mainly the presenter and interviewees. Aspects of the person’s life are emphasized by using music, camera angles and editing.
Observational
Also known as Fly on the Wall, Observational is when the maker is an observer from the outside looking in on the life being lived, this can then be seen how people/animals react to different moments. The camera crew must rush around, making the footage shaky, as nothing is rehearsed.
Reflexive
A Reflexive documentary is when the audience engages with the documentary as it goes on, the issues of realism and representation is acknowledged. There is a constructive nature of the documentary, showing a reconstruction, not necessarily being the truth.
Expository
These types of documentaries tend to be non-fiction. There is a narration voice-over about what is going on throughout the film with the social issues put into an argumentative frame.
Participatory
When events and situations presented within a Participatory documentary, the filmmaker alters the presence to what influences them.
Performative
A performative documentary presents ideas in context having different meanings for the people by acknowledging emotional and subjective aspects of the documentary.
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