POST 5 MODES OF DOCUMENTARY

By Klaivert Lami
 BILL NICHOLS & TYPES OF
DOCUMENTARIES

Bill Nichols looked at the history of documentaries and identified and six types of distinctive
modes: Expository, poetic, observational, participatory, performative, reflexive.
While Nichols' discussion of modes does progress chronologically with the order of their
appearance in practice, documentary film often returns to themes and devices from previous
modes. Therefore, it is inaccurate to think of modes as historical punctuation marks in an
evolution towards an ultimate accepted documentary style. Also, modes are not mutually
exclusive. There is often significant overlapping between modalities within individual
documentary features. As Nichols points out, "the characteristics of a given mode function as a
dominant in a given filmbut they do not dictate or determine every aspect of its
organization." (Nichols 2001)
 POETIC MODE

The poetic mode of documentary film tends toward subjective interpretations of its
subject. Light on rhetoric, documentaries in the poetic mode forsake traditional narrative
content: individual characters and events remain undeveloped, in favor of creating a
particular mood or tone. The poetic mode was introduced into documentaries in the 1920s
as a reaction against both the content and the rapidly crystallizing grammar of the early
fiction film.As Nichols stated, the poetic mode moves away from the objective reality of
a given situation or people, to grasp at an inner truth that can only be grasped by poetical
manipulation. In other words, the audience are shown an abstract, subjective,
representation of reality achieved through techniques such as emphasized visuals and a
narrative organized to fit the mood of the documentarian/documentary rather than the
linear, logical organization films followed prior to this.
 EXPOSITIONAL MODE (VOICE OF GOD)

Expository mode narration is a distinct innovation of the expositional mode of

documentary. Initially manifesting as an omnipresent, omniscient, and objective
voice intoned over footage, narration holds the weight of explaining and arguing
a film's rhetorical content. This mode always sends a message and this mode
emphasizes verbal commentary and argumentative logic often using a narrator.
It addresses the spectator directly, with titles or voices that propose a
perspective, advance an argument or recount history. Most associated with
Television News programming.
 OBSERVATIONAL MODE

The observational documentaries attempt to observe aspects of the historical world as they happen.
Typically have no voice-over commentary, no supplementary music or sound, no intertitles, no historical
reenactments, no behavior repeated for the camera and no interviews. In addition, Social actors behave as if
no filmmakers were there.
The advance of technology in the 1960s enabled cameras to be built smaller and lighter, thus allowing film
makers to simply observe reality with a camera without intruding on its subject and therefore arguably
fuelled the basis of the observational mode
It Emphasizes the documentary filmmaker's engagement in observing the subject's daily life and
circumstances and documenting them with an unobtrusive camera.
Examples: By maintaining the observational mode, the director allowed the subject to forget the presence
of the camera and behave more naturally, thereby letting the audience get a better sense of how she
really feels about having such an unusual abundance of facial hair.
 PARTICIPATORY MODE

Participatory mode documentaries involves an interview between filmmaker and the subject;
this allows the filmmaker to address people who appear in the film, formally and this is
opposed to addressing the audience through voice-over commentary. Also it involves some
participation from the filmmaker as well as social actors and this gives the audience a sense of
what it is like for the filmmaker to be in a given situation and how that situation alters as a
result. The types of documentaries made from this mode are mixed documentaries e.g. Living
with Michael Jackson.
 REFLEXIVE MODE

For this mode, the spectator is the focus of the attention. In a reflexive documentary, the
film maker acknowledges their presence in front of the camera and provides a narrative
to the documentary.The reflexive style of documentary is usually associated with
experimental documentaries, where the viewer is just as interested about how the film is
constructed as they are the actual content.
 PERFORMATIVE MODE

Performative mode of documentary raises questions about what knowledge is. It sets
out to demonstrate how the specificities of personal experience provide entry into an
understanding of the more general processes at work in society.- this is done by
stressing the emotional complexity of experience from the perspective of the filmmaker.
Stresses the tone and mood, more so than arguments and evidence. Also, it calls for an
emotional responsiveness from us that acknowledges an understanding of the event,
more so that asking us to gain knowledge from it.
 WHAT TYPES DO WE LIKE AND WHAT
WE WANT TO USE

We all like 4 modes, which are: the observational mode, reflexive mode, participatory
mode and performative mode. We feel that these are the most interesting and we want
to make an engaging and entertaining documentary. For our documentary we would like
to focus on performative mode with some key parts from the reflexive mode. On the
other hand, I think not all documentaries can fit into just one category or mode because
you can follow some of the conventions from other modes and not just one.