Documentory minitask

Documentary ‘mini-task’

Introduction• 

What is a documentary? A documentary film is a not fiction film intended for documenting reality primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record it.

Expository documentaries 

are usually voiced over with a disembodied and or authoritative which draws the audience in as it addresses the directly and gives an almost personal feeling to the documentary it usually only gives meaning to the images being present and doesn’t give opinions .usually the images are a series in which they complement the voice over in that they are informative and interesting .both sides of the facts and arguments are provided by the voice over which gives a expository documentary giving an objective and transparency .an example will followhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVc6MlGpcRg

Gangs in Prison - The War (National Geographic Documentary) this fits in well to this category as it provides a view of a power struggle from three sides it fit the voice over and the elements that are usually associated with this kind of documentary.

Observational documentaries 

are when the documentary maker is just following a person around in order to observe the events that happen in their everyday life. The camera will normally be hand held and will have longer takes, with no interviews and usually no voice over. Emphasizing the documentary filmmaker's engagement in observing the subject's daily life and circumstances and documenting them with an unobtrusive camera.By maintaining the observational mode, the director allowed the subject to forget the presence of the camera and behave more naturally, thereby letting the audience get a better sense.An example of this could be The War Room is a 1993 American documentary film about Bill Clinton's campaign for President of the United States during the 1992 presidential election. It is frequently cited as one of the greatest documentaries ever made.Initially, the principal characters seem aware of the filmmakers' presence, but gradually they begin to treat them like friends, and the camera like furniture. Either that or they are pretty good actors. Carville, of course, was probably born under a klieg light, and Stephanopoulos, a master of media manipulation, has the looks of a matinee idol.

Cops (TV series)
Officer Caleb Lenz of the Kansas City Missouri Police Department attempts to catch up to an officer that is in pursuit of a stolen vehicle that was spotted earlier in the evening. As he races to the scene, the officer radios shots fired and soon afterwards radios that he has been wounded in the gunfight. Officer Lenz arrives second on scene and finds another officer with the injured man and a witness frantically pointing out the direction in which the shooter traveled on foot. A quick search of the area turns up the shooter's shedded clothing. A K-9 Unit tracks the shooter to a garage and when the man becomes confrontational the dog bites him as he is pulled from the shed. He is quickly detained and the semi-automatic weapon used in the gunfight is recovered. The young man is treated for his wounds as Officer Lenz talks to the K-9 Officer about the track. Lenz is given updated information that the wounded officer will be okay and is in good spirits.

In Interactive documentaries the filmmakers presence is fully acknowledged, almost emphasized. Become the character and author. The film maker may or may not take sides if there is conflict. There can be problems with interactive documentaries such as access to people and locations. Sometimes they resort to filming in secret which will obviously cause legal problems as you need legal permissions. Access and privacy can effect the production, you need to get wirtten permissions to interview people and places you want to use, if you are not allowed these permissions then you will have to pick a different location and people which could lead to a complete change to the production. 

 "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqOU13nl2TU"  Ross Kemp: Extreme World | Season 4 Episode 1 | Ukraine is an example of an interactive documentary.Reflexive documentaries:Reflexive documentaries are when the filmmaker is nearly always present on camera, as they like to be able to participate. These types of documentaries are usually made up of interviews making the audience participate within arguments and to become manipulated through the text of editing. An example of this would be the documentaries from Louis. His one named “When Louis met Jimmy” in 2000, this one is about when Louis had met with Jimmy Savile and in this series he had accompanied a British celebrity around on their day to day business. He would interview him with questions about his life and experiences. I felt that this interview was very realistic in the way that Louis was within the programme as well as being the voice over. This is evident in the way that there where straight up reactions for the questions being asked, but not only that there was also a shortage on questions for when Louis was put on the spot. This documentary, just like others have fast forwarded the dull parts. The way that will convince the audience that this isn’t like all of the others are with way that it is all mostly filmed with just the one camera, as this is evident with the camera and camera man are able to be seen in the mirrors.

Supersize me Morgan Spurlock 2004

This is an example of a per-formative documentary as the film maker gets involved in the documentary being the main subject and also evidently tells the audience the truths on the subject in hand. Deeply personal, the per-formative mode is particularly well-suited to telling the stories of filmmakers from marginalized social groups, offering the chance to air unique perspectives without having to argue the validity of their experiences. With the filmmaker visible to the viewer, and freed to openly discuss his or her perspective in regards to the film being made, rhetoric and argumentation return to the documentary film as the filmmaker clearly asserts a message.

I feel that documentary films have to present a none bias veiw to be truthful to both parties involved and for the rights of the viewer as showing a bias documentary would brake the trust that us the consumer have with trusted providers.