Types of documentary

There are many types of different documentaries. These types include

• Fully narrated - This is where there is a on screen/off screen voice over which uses direct address and has been described as having the "voice of god." The whole point of these types of documentaries are
  that the voice over dominates the meaning of the documentary.

•     Fly on the wall - All the footage used in these types of documentary are almost all observational. With these types of documentaries, voice overs are not needed because the whole point is that the documentary becomes about what you are watching rather than the point the documentary is trying to put across. These documentaries are heavily dominated by editing.

• Mixed documentary - This style of documentary is to advance an argument. The style of it is modern.
  
• Self reflective - This type of documentary is about the person in it. This can sometimes be seen as constructing reality and it has been argued that people who create self reflective documentaries are just aiming for self publicity as they are confusing and can easily fall into that category.
  
  
• Docudrama - This style of documentary is where there are a re-enactment of events which are suppose to have already happened. These documentaries are popular and shows include 'I used to be pregnant' and the documentary of Hillsborough which is a docudrama because it's based on fact. These documentaries represent the truth but can only ever hope to deliver fiction as re-enactments are needed. If people were to pass these off as actuality, it could upset a lot of people.

     

• Docusoaps - These follow the daily lives of people such as BBC Airport. They whole point of this documentary is to try to make the mundane exciting. Many serious documentary makers dispute that these are documentaries as they are cheap and more like eavesdropping than reporting.
  
• Disneyfication - These have been commented on as dumming down television. Because of this and others like docudramas and docusoaps, the quality in drama has considered to be decreasing. It now appears that the creativity is more important than the actual topic.
  
  Every documentary needs a narratives. At the beginning, the aim is to establish where the documentary is going and if there is going to be a drama/conflict to increase interest. Conflict can be anything from being between people, their beliefs or even circumstances. Conflict allows narrative to draw conclusions represented by the mise-en-scene, interviews and cinematography. The exposition should be about the conflict and examining the issues presented in the beginning. Finally the end has the aim to make the argument clear and explain what was the point in the documentary. Documentaries keep moving as the narrative/commentary leads the footage. Sometimes music and sound effects are also added to keep the documentary flowing. Lighting always needs to be considered as well as who and where people are interviewed. Finally when creating a documentary cutaway are needed to anchor what the interviewers saying.