Documentry modes
- 1. Poetic mode The poetic mode was introduced into documentaries in the 1920’s as a reaction against both the content and the rapidly crystallizing grammar of the early fiction film. Instead of using traditional linear continuity to create story structure, the poetic documentary filmmaker arrives at its point by arranging footage in an order to evoke an audience association through tone, rhythm, or spatial juxtaposition. Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia (1938) is a classic example of how a poetic documentary emphasizes visuals to encourage the audience to understand an inner truth of the text. The focus of this documentary is on the Aryan athletes representing Nazi Germany at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. Robert Flaherty’s Man of Aran (1938) also follows the poetic mode considering Flaherty filmed scenes intended to fit into his desired narrative and conclusion, rather than allowing reality to guide his direction.
- 2. Also having first appeared in the 1920's along with the poetic documentary, the expository documentary on the other hand constructs a specific argument or a point of view for the audience. Generally, the formula is a resonating, authoritative voice (like the silky baritone of Morgan Freeman in March of the penguin that tells you something with corresponding footage proving that it is, indeed, true. The expository mode aims to educate the audience and evoke and gratify a desire to know. It can perhaps be assumed that it portrays an accurate representation of a given reality. While the logical, linear structure of expository. Although this theory does indeed misrepresent reality, it should be considered that the intentions of the expository mode are educational and therefore research must have been done in order to legitimately present a certain view, Perhaps the most familiar example to use is Night Mail (1936); an early documentary that follows a postal train’s overnight journey to Scotland in which its mail is sorted, dropped, and delivered. Nowadays the expository mode is mostly associated with nature documentaries such as The Blue Planet. Expository Documentary
- 3. Observational documentary is probably the most analysed mode of all the types of documentaries. The form is also referred to as cinema verité, direct cinema or fly- on-the-wall documentary. Observational documentary's strive for cinematic realism. The gritty realism produced by actuality filmmakers of the 1960s and 70s was achieved through technological advances made ten years earlier. Faster lenses for shooting in low light conditions and smaller cameras that could now be handheld. So, they were no longer tethered to a sound recorder with an audio sync cable. An unobtrusive crew of two could shoot almost anywhere with available light and follow actuality as it unfolded. In this form of documentary the filmmakers usually just film raw footage and do not really edit It much and no not ask questions to the audience they let the audience make up there own minds. one of the most famous filmmakers who used this mode is Boston director Frederick Wiseman, who was considered by many to be the master of observational cinema. He is known for his ground breaking studies of institutions and big social issues (“High School,” 1968) Observational Documentary
- 4. participatory documentary is when the encounter between filmmaker and subject is recorded and the filmmaker actively engages with the situation they are documenting. The participatory mode aims for immediacy. Also, it often presents the filmmaker’s point of view. Some of the most notable filmmakers that use this model are the investigative work of filmmaker Nick Bloomfield an examples of documentary's that use this mode is Kurt and Courtney 1998 and Tales of the Grim Sleeper 2014. Bloomfield shoots with a skeletal crew handling audio mixer and boom mic himself. He often rolls camera on the way to the next location and gives anticipatory commentary to camera when he’s not conducting gun and run interviews. participatory documentary
- 5. Documentaries made in reflexive mode provoke audiences to “question the authenticity of documentary in genera. reflexive documentary is not about the relationship with the filmmaker and the subject, but rather the filmmaker and the audience. Showing the man (or woman) behind the curtain One of the best examples of this mode Is in The Man With A Movie Camera Dziga Vertov, the Russian film pioneer makes it clear that what the audience is watching is not reality but rather a construction of reality. The film is silent and contains no interstitial titles. Another example would be that chronicles a day in the life of a metropolis, the 1929. This documentary includes scenes of the film’s cameraman and how he went about getting his shots. Also intercut with scenes of factories, trains and crowded streets are short sequences of a diligent film editor working with individual frames from the film. By clever juxtaposition of scenes and images, Vertov gives us a sense that the film we are watching is being assembled right before our eyes. Reflexive Mode
- 6. The performative mode of documentary is the direct opposite of the observational mode. In Observational documentaries. Observation of the subject is the director’s aim. A Performative documentary emphasizes the filmmaker’s own involvement with the subject. Furthermore, the filmmaker shows a larger political or historical reality through the window of There own experience. Rather than rely on the expository approach, the performative filmmaker becomes a personal guide. The guide shows it and tells it like it is with raw emotion. In performative mode the filmmaker gives a what’s it like to be there perspective on a world, a culture or an event in history. Without that perspective, it’s likely the audience would otherwise never know those topics. An example of this mode is Tongues Untied 1989 the late African- American filmmaker Marlon Riggs combines actuality, re- enactments and his personal account to shine a light on black gay American identity. performative mode
- 7. Bill Nichols American documentary theorist, Bill Nichols distinguished between documentary styles and developed 6 modes, outlined in his book ‘Introduction to Documentary’. Nichols identified certain traits visible in documentaries that were utilised by the documentary maker either consciously or simply because that is their way of telling their truth and sharing their knowledge. Nichols explains that all documentaries make use of one or more of the 6 modes. Understanding the various modes of documentary can come in useful not just for analysing documentaries but for a filmmaker creating their own documentary.