This documentary about mobile phones was created using Adobe Premier. The use of rule of thirds was used on interviews with students about their phones. I used graphics to add titles to the documentary and added music. The music I used was ‘Call Me’ – by Blondie. When I showed people the documentary they said that it was structured well but in some parts there was background noise and the interviewee was quite in some sections. I used b-roll footage in parts of my documentary that was relevant to the topic. And used appropriate camera angles within the documentary. If I could do anything to improve this documentary I would use the blue screen to create more of a range in my interviews.
There are many ways of categorising documentaries. Some of the six different types are; Expository, observational, poetic, participatory, docudrama, reflexive.
Expository sometimes referred to as ‘voice of god’ style documentary involves an omniscient voice-over narrator speaking over images and visual clips. This ‘voice’ is usually not often seen. This type of documentary is often used by film-makers who want to present a particular argument or point-of-view. An example of this style is the Murdoch’s Revolution. The documentary focuses of telling the audience how Murdoch came to own most of the newspaper industry in the UK.
Observational sometimes referred to as ‘fly on the wall.’ This is when the camera observes people going about their lives and shows a sense of reality. There may be little or no voice-over narration and the film-makers do not appear on screen. This type of documentary is often used when film-makers want to investigate the behaviour of real people in a particular environment. An example of this would be the documentary The Family. The documentary follows the life of a family and tries to show the reality of it. The realism of these types of documentaries can be questioned as you do not know how conscious of the camera the people being filmed are.
Poetic. Sometimes documentaries use highly artistic or poetic devices including; symbolic visual images, music, editing techniques ect. This type of documentary may be used by film-makers who want to make an emotional effect, rather than to communicate an intellectual argument. An example of this is The Little Things. This YouTube based documentary uses stop-motion-animation images, and music to show how childhood dreams and ambitions get lost as we get older.
Participatory types of documentaries are when the film-maker interacts with his/her subjects. The personality of the film-maker is shown in this and becomes part of the documentary. The way they interact with people may become the focus point of the documentary. An example of this is Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends. The film-maker gets involved with their life and usually interviews things that would be seen as oddities in society he also compares himself a lot to those being interviewed.
Docudrama documentaries are usually presented in a dramatic form. They usually seem to be more of a drama than a documentary. These might feature re-enactments of events, or enactments of events that might happen in the future. This type of documentary makes use of techniques of fictional films and enables the film-maker to develop a powerful narrative. An example of this is The War Games which shows what would happen if the UK had a nuclear war. It uses actors and actresses to create this piece.
Reflexive documentaries turn its gaze on itself. This means it shows how it is being made while filming. The camera crew and equipment maybe shown and the film-makers may feature, discussing their film. An example of this is The Man with a Movie Camera which is a silent black and white documentary showing what you can do with film.
