DOCUMENTARY MODES & SUB-MODES
THE REFLEXIVE MODE
This mode makes the audience very aware of the process behind the documentary and its construction. The reflexive mode indulges in the fact that what they convey to the audience is not essentially the truth but a re-built version of it.
Examples: Man with a Movie Camera (1929), Sherman's March (1986)
THE PARTICIPATORY
This mode of documentary sees the director/creator of the film in front of the camera playing a physical role within the documentary. He or she engages with the subjects on screen, asking them questions and often relating to their stories. This type of mode is heavily dependent on how reliable and truthful there subjects are within the film.
Examples: Any documentary by Nick Broomfield or Louis Theroux.
THE OBSERVATIONAL MODE
Often known as ‘fly on the wall’, the observational mode attempts to capture reality in as natural a way as possible and relies heavily on spontaneity. There is no staging or trickery when filming and the director and film crew, who are completely ignored, do not interject at all but simply observe and keep the camera running.
Examples: One Borne Every Minute, The Family.
THE PERFORMATIVE MODE
This mode is very similar in a lot of ways to the participatory. The performative mode emphasises the importance of the documentarian’s personal feelings towards a subject to create a large reaction from the audience.
Examples: Bliss (1985), Tongues Untied (1989)
THE POETIC MODE
It could be said that this particular mode doesn’t reflect a completely honest representation of reality but rather the documentarian’s preferred reading of the film. Such methods as stylish editing manipulate the audience to believe that what they are viewing is reality and not constructed.
Examples: Man of Aran (1938), Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia (1938)
THE EXPOSITORY MODE
Usually this type of documentary addresses the viewer directly which in a lot of cases is done so by commentary of a strong and authoritative nature, usually but not always presented using a voice of god. Furthermore the mode usually suggests a strong argument or personal point of view within the piece which is assumed as the correct one. The mode is often associated with TV news programming or nature documentaries.
Examples: Any nature or history documentary written, narrated or hosted by David Attenborough, An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
A combination of documentary and drama, the sub-genre is a drama based around real characters and events in time. It can be in the form of a full length feature film, or as re-creations of non-fictional characters, scenes or scenarios created by actors and usually seen hand in hand with interviews which discuss or describe what is visually being displayed. This format is popular with shows such as Crime Watch. The examples below reflect both types of docudrama discussed.
Examples: Touching the Void (2003), 127 Hours (2010)
DOCUFICTION
Docufiction compiles of a strong documentary format in the way of documenting true events with real people, however fictional elements are rife within the plot. Whether it’s small but significant elements though out the piece to keep the audience hooked or simply a fictional story with real characters and based around true events. Unlike docudrama or mockumentary however, the audience are not aware from the start that what they are viewing is not genuine and the truth is never revealed by the film maker leaving the audience in mystery.
Underexposure (2005) Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)
Mermaids: The Body Found science fiction drama formed into a Documentary. This drama uses fictional characters and tells the story of a scientific team who investigate the mysterious underwater findings and recordings of a dead body of a marine.
MONDO FILM
This sub-genre often depicts representations of foreign cultures dealing with cutting edge, shocking and sometimes even vulgar subjectivity such as graphic violence, nudity and coarse language. This is all promoted and emphasised greatly as it is how this sub-genre selling itself.
Examples: Sweden: Heaven and Hell (1968), Mondo Trasho (1969)
MOCUMENTARY
The sub-genre abides by strict documentary aesthetics wile in reality being a work of fiction. A key difference between mocumentary and docufiction is that the audience is fully aware of the joke surrounding the film before they watch it. By being in on the gag in knowing the supposed documentary is in fact a carefully devised fraud, the audience can appreciate both the humor and the intrinsic critical reflexivity of the medium. “In order to come to an appreciation of the parodistic and hence critical characteristics of mockumentaries, viewers need to be aware of the cinematic traditions that are being mocked.” (1)
Borat (2006), I'm Still Here (2010)
ETHNOFICTION
Ethnofiction which is closely related to ducufiction, focuses on small remote often rarely explored cultures from around the world. Using either scripts or improvisation, the sub-genre attempts to reflect ethnical issues or un-explored hard truths from theses cultures to make a statement. In some ethnofiction documentaries he production team, mainly the camera man gets involved with the characters by interfering in an event. The camera mans presence will ultimately affect the characters.
A filmaker and anthropologist named Jean Rouch created a film named Les Maitres Fous in 1955 is the first film made in ethnofiction genre.
Breathless 1960's Paris
City of God (2002) Our Beloved Month of August (2008)
Harry Fisher
