Different types of documentary

A documentary is a sort of show that shows facts and informs people on a specific subject. they can document any aspects of reality. Teaching and informing about different aspects of anything. there are different types of documentaries such as Expository,Observational,Interactive, Reflexive and Performative.









Interactive documentary:
Interactive documentaries are documentaries that include interactions from the director. There are interactions between the interviewees and presenter. I have chosen to have a look at the documentary created by Rooster teeth called "Connected" in which two employees of the rooster teeth company aren't allowed to use technology but are allowed to use tech from the era they were born for 5 days and see how they react, This shows about how reliant we are on technology these days and it documents what the 2 employees have to go through, using pagers, old computers and old phones. The conventions of a interactive documentary are shown here it features interaction from the employees at the company.

Reflexive documentary: exposing conventions of own construction, similar to interactive however tools use to create the documentary may be shown such as cameramen or footage of the director editing the footage. such as Louis Theroux "My scientology movie" in which it follows Louis Theroux exploring the strange cult "scientology".











Performative documentary: includes performances to give a further insight into the topic discussed and to get a heavier feel of the topic being discussed. "Tongues untied" is a performative documentary about the oppression of being a gay black man in the late 80s and early 90s and uses performances to get a better insight into the emotional feelings.











Expository documentary: explains something with a voiceover with footage in the background, such as as the documentary series "Planet Earth" in which the animal kingdom is explored with breathtaking shots whilst being explained with a voice over.








Observational documentary: Observational documentaries are documentaries they don't usually have the conventions of a documentary and feel more like a real film. such as armadillo shown below. a group of Danish soldiers accompanied by documentarian Janus Metz arrived at Armadillo, an army base in the southern Afghan province of Helmand. Metz and cinematographer Lars Skree spent six months following the lives of young soldiers situated less than a kilometre from Taliban positions showing assaults into enemy lines and such gives the documentary a much more cinematic feel also in the way it's shot using the continuity system.