Documentary Styles

Documentary styles 1

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Type 1 Documentary Examples:

As mentioned before there are many different ways of presenting a documentary. In our main project this will be my main focus as I am interested in journalism. For this reason I have taken a closer look at the different forms of presenting a documentary to the audience in order to assess which way I feel is most creative and effectivein engaging the audience.

LOUIS THEROUX

The general techniqueof Louis Theroux is to follow the lives of people of particular interest. He lives alongside them whilst interviewing them in order to gain an insight into their way of living. This enables the audience to view their experiences first hand which is often informative as well as engaging. Louis' style is quite commercial as he is appealing to the audiences needs by asking questions that they too want to know, again this is effective in engaging the audience. A down side to the presenting of Louis Theroux is that the audience is led to agree with his own opinions that are often formed before exploring the particular area of interest.

NICK COOK

Is similar to Christian Jessen in that he specialises in a particular area and does documentaries on this specific area of interest. Nick Cook is an aviation journalist who has taken particular interest in UFOs and reports on them in front of the camera as well as using voice overs. He researches the information needed to make the documentary and voices his expert opinion throughout the documentary. As with other journalists, this enables him to not only inform but to effect the viewers opinion. His documentaries are made to be sinister and dramatic as with many other conspiracy documentaries, this is more engaging for the viewer and also helps to steer their opinion to match that of the documentary maker. Most of the interviews in his documentaries are done with him behind the camera, this gives a sense of distance between him as a presenter and the interviewee which I found less effective.

MORGAN SPURLOCK

The style that Morgan Spurlock uses in his documentary film is again to explore first hand the area of interest which the audience sees him research into. This means that the audience is more involved within the documentary as they are seeing the effects of either eating too much junk food or of travelling into the Middle East on Morgan himself therefore hearing how the experience effects him and exploring his own feelings. Not only is this both informative and engaging, but it also gives Morgan the ability to talk to specialists or those effected by the given documentary himself in interviews throughout the documentary films. The danger and therefore drama involved in filming his documentaries make them appealing to the audience as well as the interesting editing, music and special effects used in the film.

CHRISTIAN JESSEN and ANNA RICHARDSON

Is also a specialist in his area of work; he is a doctor. This enables him to give his expert opinion to the over and under weight people found in his documentary 'Supersize Vs Superskinny'. This again makes the documentary more informative for the viewer and enables Christian himself to have an informed opinion on a matter that some audience members may find hard to understand. Unlike Nick Cook he converses with interviewees in front of camera which I feel engages the audience more. Furthermore his documentaries are made more interest by using another journalist, Anna Richardson, who is not a specialist in the area of health. This means that the documentary features someone that can relate to the audience effectively as well as having an expert making the documentary more engaging as well as informative. Anna Richardson uses the technique of undergoing experiments on herself, such as the diets she tries, in order to show the audience the negative as well as the positive effects with first hand experience.

MARK DOLAN

Is similar to Louis Theroux in many ways. In his series 'The World's .... and me' he also explores the lives of people of particular interest by meeting with them. He explores these people by researching whilst travelling to meet them in order to find the most extreme subject of his given genre. Again, his views and opinions are voiced throughout the documentary leading the viewer to have a subjective opinion on the given matters.

Introduction to documentaries

For our A level, we have been asked to create a documentary on a choice of our subject. There are four available types of documentary that we can use;

• Reflexive - where the film maker is in front of the camera


• Poetic - artistic narrative. More human interest than current affairs


• Observational - following an event as it unfolds


• Expostitory - exposition of a person or a topic

These types of documentary aren't exclusive and can be a combination or hybrid of the above types.

There are also four different purposes of documentaries;

• To record, reveal or preserve


• To persuade or promote


• To analyse or interrogate


• To express views or opinions