Types Of Documentaries

Expository Documentary

This type of documentary attempts to expose either a person or a topic. Main conventions of expository documentaries are to base them on facts and personal opinions, the video will involve rhetorical questions in order to try and persuade the audience.This is a classic type of documentaries and involves a picture playing with someone narrating over it or explaining the story as it goes along. They often refer to a specific historic event or person, the narrator will speak directly to the audience meanwhile interviews or exclusive pictures are shown of the event or person.

here is an example:

Observational Documentary

For this type of documentary the equipment used can be informal, such as the use of handheld cameras. Usually there are no interviews in this type of documentary and also no voice overs. long takes are used in this type. an example of this would be MTV’s teen cribs. In this case for the editing the speeding up of clips helps to go past the less interesting moments and emphasises that a good part is coming up when the speed goes back to normal. they incorporate sound into this type of documentary to make it more enjoyable.

here is an example:

Reflexive and participatory Documentary

Participatory-This type of documentary employs interviews as testimonies from documentary subjects

Reflexive-This type considers the quality of the documentary itself by demystifying its process and considering the implications. In these types of documentaries they usually are involved with experiments where the viewer is just as interested about how they constructed the film than the actual content of it.  

here is an example:

Poetic Documentary

Poetic documentaries are known for having the music develope the tone and mode of the film,music plays a key role in these types of documents as they are usually personal to the people involved as well as the target audience.it emphieses some ascpets of life via music and other things such as camera angles and the editing, this is seen as an artistic way of documenting.

here is an example: