Genre analysis of

documentaries

Introduction to documentaries..

• The purpose of a documentary is to document.

To investigate.

To inform, educate and entertain.

A Documentary’s Purpose

To be truthful and factual.

To explore the different types and styles of documentaries.

To state fact not fiction.

To make an argument or a

point.

To document a specific subject.

History..

• John Grierson was a pioneering Scottish documentary maker, often considered the father of British and Canadian documentary film. In the 1930s he had a film group called General Post Office who made documentaries. Documentaries were produced for a cinema audience as TV had not yet been developed.

“In documentary we deal with the actual, and in one sense with the real. But the really real, if I may use that phrase, is something deeper than that. The only reality which counts in the end is the interpretation which is profound” – John Grierson.

Features of a documentary..

• Observation : The action or process of closely observing or monitoring something or someone.

• Interview : An interview is a conversation between two or more people where questions are asked by the interviewer to elicit facts or statements from the interviewee.

• Dramatisation : The reconstruction of an event, novel, story in a form suitable for dramatic presentation.

• Mise en scene : An expression used to describe the design aspects of a theatre or film production, which essentially means visual theme or telling a story.

• Exposition : The exposition is the portion of a story that introduces important background information to the audience; for example, information about the setting, events occurring before the main plot, characters' back stories, etc.

Different types of documentary..

Fully narrated documentary..

• A fully narrated documentary is a documentary narrated throughout which directly addresses the audience.

Fly on the wall documentary..

• A fly on the wall documentary is a documentary based on observation with no narration or interviews.

Mixed documentary..

• A mixed documentary is a combination of interviews, observation and narration.

Self reflexive documentary..

• A self reflexive documentary is where the narrator of the documentary contributes the most input.

Docudrama documentary..

• A docudrama documentary is a documentary consisting mostly of reconstructions of real life stories and events.

Docusoap documentary..

• A docusoap documentary is a documentary that follows the daily life of a particular individual.