Documentary Mini Task

Documentary Mini Task 

 

A documentary is a piece of media used to show real-life events or present facts. They also use real people or people who were/are involved in the story most of the time rather than actors as it makes it more authentic. 

Expository:

Expository documentaries are trying to expose a certain topic. They have a voice over/narrator to help explain to the viewer what is happening in a particular scene. This helps to go with what is in the scene. The filmmaker wouldn’t be present to the audience, whilst also objectifying the representation. An example of this would be An Inconvenient Truth (2006) and its second film/documentary An Inconvenient Truth Sequel (2017) which aim to expose the threat that climate change has on the earth. 

 

Observational: 

Throughout the documentary the director is an uninvolved bystander, hidden from the audience. They show a neutral side to the story/real life event so as not to be biased and allow the audience to choose what they want to take away from the documentary. The Doghouse (2019), which shows how dogs impact people's lives and Bob Dylan: Don’t Look Back (1967) showing him doing normal everyday things on tour. 

Interactive: 

The director/filmmaker is present most of the way through the documentary, giving them a chance to interview people, creating a judgement and or argument to the documentary's topic. This allows the viewers the opportunity to have their own opinions on the documentary's topic. My Octopus Teacher (2020) has an filmmaker the whole way through interacting with the nature within the ocean. 

Reflexive: 

A lot of the shot would capture everyday life exposing it to the audience. The whole documentary pushes the audience to reflect and re-analyse their thought on the truth of the story/real life event. An example of this would be My Octopus Teacher (2020) as it focuses on the interactions between the filmmaker and the octopus as it allows people to reflect on the relationship between humanity and nature.

Performative:

Doesn’t have a lot of speech and has more emphasis on the presentation of the footage of the event. Uses exaggerated camera positions and soundtracks to help the audience really submerge themselves into the setting, for example Aquarela (2019) which depicts water at some of its most beautiful and terrifying extreme only using footage. 

 

Both expository and observational have aspects that appeal to me. I like the voice over used within the expository and the way the director is not present in the observational. I believe that observational is the most unbiased and objective as it does not show one side of any piece of information. A lot of the time producers should give honest and accurate information. Only sometimes do I feel that they should change the information slightly and become biased based on the documentary's topic.