Documentaries: The Five Formats

A documentary is a non-fictional film which covers a specific topic, usually in order to

make a point about the issue. The filmmaker covers real true to life issues with the people
involved in them to portray an insight for the films audience. Documentaries can be made
in a variety of ways, according to Bill Nichols, depending on the filmmakers choices and the
topic itself.
The first type of documentary Nichols identified is an Expository Documentary. The
key feature of the expository type is the voiceover which feeds the audience information
about what they can see on screen without outwardly expressing an opinion on it. In this
manner, the voiceover provides captions for the audience, informing them of anything
they cannot derive from the footage and audio recorded on location. The voiceover is
evidently added in post-production, meaning the filmmaker can begin to tell a story with the
narration to provide a flowing mechanism between the various on-screen events. The
events on-screen are only events that would occur within the daily lives of the people
featured in the film, there are rarely any interviews and the characters are discouraged
from looking at the camera much like actors. Expository documentaries have the effect of
only providing one perspective on what occurs which is that of the filmmaker.
This type of documentary is common for wildlife
programmes, such as Polar Bear: Spy on the Ice (2011). The
documentary follows the lives of several polar bears through
the use of multiple spy cameras, in order to capture them
acting natural in their environment. David Tennant narrates
the film, with a calm but authoritative and informative tone throughout, occasionally with
some humour to compliment the funny behaviour of the polar bears.
A second type of documentary is an Observational Documentary, which is a film
without any obstruction from what happens on screen. Throughout the film we do not see
or hear input from the film maker, director or a narrator. They are considered to show a
very transparent view of a situation, allowing the filmmaker themselves to simply sit back
and observe without a particular judgement. Shots are usually unplanned, instead just
following the events and conversation. The effect this creates allows the audience to
take/decode what they want from the text, resulting in a variation of audience opinion as
oppose to one perspective as is common with other documentary times according to
Nichols. These types of documentary have been much less common in recent years, possibly
due to the role of a narrator being preferred by modern audiences.
One Observational Documentary example is from 1968, called Salesman. The
documentary follows 4 salesmen who attempt door to door sales of an expensive brand of
the bible. As expected of this documentary type there is no narration or filmmaker input
and prompt displayed on screen, which allows for varying perspectives. The shots used

appear unplanned due to often being shaky and with sudden

movements. In addition, early on in the film one of the cameras used
can be seen in shot and the handheld microphone can also be seen a
few times. All of this gives the impression of a guerrilla style of
filmmaking which is relevant for observational documentaries.
Nichols third type of documentary is Interactive Documentaries.
In complete contrast with observational documentaries, the filmmakers
presence is usually evident and the perspective of the film expresses
their personal opinion and arguments of the topic they are dealing with. Interaction with
the filmmaker and the interviewees is common, sometimes including direct address to the
camera. Editing also plays an obvious role in interactive documentaries, with certain parts of
a conversation being cut out, or reactions to what is being said edited in (despite being
filmed at another time) to give the desired perspective of the filmmaker. Shots can also
appear unplanned and shaky, depending on the level of planning made by the filmmaker
regarding what they will say and do.
A recently made interactive documentary series
was BBC2s Inside the Commons, which followed
politicians in Londons Houses of Parliament for a whole
year, in order to produce the 4 part documentary. It was
presented by Michael Cockerel who narrates the
programme and (although does not take such a major on-screen role as Louis Theroux in his
interactive documentaries) can often be heard asking questions of the participants from
behind the camera. There is a large amount of selective editing involved to convey
Cockerels views of the in-efficiencies of the Houses of Parliament, through the use of
cutting up interviews. This example does differ slightly from other interactive
documentaries, as shown through the use of multiple well-planned camera angles, but the
programme did benefit from a rather large budget and the ability to use footage recorded
by existing cameras within the Commons Chamber.
Reflexive Documentaries are another type identified by Nichols, in which the
filmmaker attempts to make a point about the genre of documentary itself, by using a
variety of documentary conventions in an experimental fashion. The shots within reflexive
documentaries are intended to show normal everyday life but put together in a film to
make a point to the audience. This type of documentary has also been much less common in
recent years, with some of the most famous examples of its type being made in the 192030s.
One example is Land without Bread (1933) which, although has since had both an
English and French narration added, was a reflexive documentary when first produced by
Luis Bunuel. The film centres on a few small towns in the Spanish mountains where bread
has only just been introduced but few people know what it is, hence the title. It shows the

people living in the Spanish towns doing their everyday tasks and rituals
(one of which weirdly involves engaged men ripping the head from a
cockerel). Bunuel made the film as an exaggerated parody of other
documentaries being made at the time covering travellers of the Sahara
desert. In order to convey this the film focuses largely on the suffering of
the people and their animals from illnesses, starvation and a donkey which
was stung to death by bees. In fact, the film was considered so
exaggeratedly revolutionary that it was subsequently banned in Spain for
3 years from its release.
Finally, Performative Documentaries are considered to be an indirect representation
of events, where the emphasis of the film is on presentation rather than content.
Performative documentaries have an element of drama performance to them, often
containing staged re-enactments of events and an extensive soundtrack to submerge the
audience in an overly exaggerated story of the actual events. The effect is often a more
entertaining observation than other documentaries but is criticised for being misleading in
favour of having an expressive and stylised manner.
Tongues Untied is an example of a Performative documentary.
Produced in 1989 by Marlon Riggs, the film attempts to show the
culture of black homosexuals in America and how they feel prejudiced
by society as a whole. The film is made up by a mix of personal
accounts from men affected, documentary footage, and abstract
fictional scenes. As a prime example of a Performative documentary,
its focus is clearly on the presentation of feelings rather than content
and there is a clear soundtrack along with the film. It could be argued
that the film dramatises scenes to give more impact on the audience,
thus being slightly misleading also.
My personal favourite type of documentaries are ones following the Interactive
model. Interactive documentaries tend to explore an issue in greater depth, and have a
better narrative, usually following the discoveries of the filmmaker themselves throughout
filming. The presence of the filmmaker openly expressing their opinions, I find, makes the
film more engaging. Despite the obvious problems with bias that comes from selective
editing I think it can create a good pace to the documentary therefore keeping it interesting
to watch.

Sources
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wylng
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salesman_%28film%29
http://www.open.edu/openlearn/whats-on/tv/ou-on-the-bbc-inside-the-commons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Without_Bread
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongues_Untied