Genre research

The genre that me and my group have decided to look at is documentaries, though we
had initially been assigned by our teacher to look into film making, we thought that we
would go with something which we had not previously done before as well as something
that would turn out to be a little more challenging and practical in terms of conducting
our own research plans.
There are several different types of documentary styles; these consist of 6 types which
are:

Poetic Documentaries
Expository Documentaries
Observational Documentaries
Participatory Documentaries
Reflexive Documentaries
Performative Documentaries

The documentary that we will be focusing on is reflexive documentaries; this is because

our production will be showing a reconstructed version of a documentary which shows
the audience a remake of a truth that most people know but may not believe or have
specifically experienced, however a fraction of the audience may still have personal
experience in the situation. The production would need to engage with viewers allowing
them to absorb the content of the documentary as it happens. This would mean that the
viewers would understand and apply the information we provide to them, making them
feel that the documentary is revealing what they really feel or may be helping them to
prepare for something they may come across. To do this they would be acknowledging
the issues of realism and representation within the content then putting them into place
with a personal understanding of the context within the documentary. The influence this,
reflexive documentaries would often make it clear to their audience through the use of
editing as this would bring about the understand and message that we are trying to put
across, sounds to inflict empathy on the viewers from a directors perspective and footage
to reveal evidence that backs up the investigation or experience being portrayed.
However there are many more types of documentaries as listed above, to further explain
why we feel that the reflexive documentary is suitable for our production I will research
them further so that I am able to gather a better understanding of the decision made by
our group to do a reflexive documentary and investigate why this was a suitable choice
for the theme and question we have chosen; has online dating become trivialised from
online dating websites and social media?
Looking at poetic documentaries, they are documentaries that show issues that may
directly relate to the interviewee(s) or presenter, as it would be affecting them the most.
The story behind the documentary would give rise to a situation that would or has
affected them personally. The documentary wouldnt show this in detail, but may show
snippets of the parts that may have affected them the most. Poetic documentaries
express this through music, camera shots and angles as well as editing. This means that
it would not need the filming to have been filmed within one shot to establish reality and
a sense of realism as this could be done through a series of shots and angles, creating a
artistically presented documentary to bring about the drama and feeling that the
presenter and interviewees had been feeling. The music being used for the documentary
would also be a vital aspect to consider as the mood and tone of the way in which the
story is told is what sets and creates value for the message hidden within.

Mehak Hussain

Expository documentaries these are rhetorical and are generally based on nonfiction topics that provide strong points of views that argue a topic for and against and
present them to the audience often based on issues that involve society and the way in
which it affects people. The score music is generally used to add dramatic effects to the
voice over that speaks directly to the audience as it sounds objective and omniscient.
Being rhetoric, it unconsciously influences the viewers thoughts to understand something
the way they see it. The topic is usually emphasised on through the images and videos
used would then give confidence to the voice of the narrator.
Observational documentaries are somewhat different as they restrain from having any
sort of input in what is being filmed. This is means that the filming of the documentary
would not be staged at all and the film maker would simply be capturing an event taking
place at that very moment as he/she would act as a neutral observer, like a fly on the
wall this was believed by Richard Leacock and Robert Drew two famous pioneering
filmmakers. This type of documentary is good when the filmmaker is trying to present
how human/animals act, when this is done, the filmmaker is not shot in the scene as this
could influence the audiences opinion and would cease the purpose of an observational
documentary. Camera shots are usually continuous because camera crews are made to
run around with camera equipment in order to capture unexpected scenes. The shaky
movement of a camera is also likely as some scenes may be done through handheld
shots as they could have been taken in a hurry. Filmmakers in this sub-genre are usual
among those who might feel that a poetic documentary is too abstract and an expository
is too instructive and so observational documentarys were created during the 1960s
small portable cameras and sound recording equipment were used so that they would
avoid having to add synchronised voice over and score.
Participatory documentaries on the other hand show a belief that portray that it is
impossible for a filmmaker to have no input in the influence of a documentarys portrayal
of a situation on the audience. Therefore these types of documentaries generally have
the manipulation and presence of a film marker. For example the documentary Supersize
Me, this documentary is based on a series of events that take place over a period of on
month in which Morgan Spurlock explores the consequences on his health from eating a
diet made up of McDonalds food. Morgan Spurlock was the main star, writer and the
director of the documentary, which gives him control over the events, and situations that
take place through the course of the documentary.
Finally performative documentaries are those that recoil memories about subjective
aspects within a documentary. They are shown to express the emotion and present ideas
that would have different meanings for different people in the audience. They are
generally very personal and take the form of autobiographies they can also sometimes
include reenactments of alleged events that may have taken place, perhaps to provide
extra support or emphasis on the idea of what has been believed or possibly to give the
audience a better understanding of a particular perspective that we may not even
comprehend personally. By doing this, the audience is given first hand experience into
what the director wants to show its audience. The issues that centre the documentary is
usually an issue that has been largely focused on as they can often link back to larger
subject matters on historical realities as well as political debates.
After reviewing the several different sub genres of documentaries I found that not only
made it clearer to understand our purpose and form of a reflexive documentary, but also
I feel that I can use the techniques gathered in my research to ensure that our purpose
has been defined for our audience also. Though, the most interesting aspect I learnt from

Mehak Hussain

my research into the sub genres is that each documentary uses some form of
truth to build and present their ideas through some form of fact(s).

Mehak Hussain