Fears: The structure and types of a documentary
documentary structure is somewhat the same as a film structure in a sense of a beginning middle and end, even having a 3 act structre. act one would introduce the topic and issues surrounding the topic, Then introduce the negative sides of the topic, then finally show the findings of the documentary. However there are 6 types of documentary making which is important to look in when editing this documentary and to see what type it fits into.
Poetic Documentary:
These forms of documentaries are easily the more out there and experimamtal forms of documentary. Instead of using linear continuity to create a structure, a poetic documentary arranges its shots by means of associations, tone and rhythm. A subjective, abstract representation of reality is shown to the audience with emphasis on the visuals. Poetic documentaries often rely on colour, tones, sounds and mood. one example of this is Samsara (2011) which plays like a global travelouge of various areas from the himalayas to the american southwest
Narrative Documentary
also known as "Expository documentary", the narrative documentary is much like a visual representation of a written essay, presenting the veiwer with thier findings, educating the veiwers on the topic they are discussing with a beginning middle and end including a narrator also known as the "voice of god". Expository documentaries will be heavily researched focusing on facts rather than opinion or emotion. That is not to say that these sorts of documentaries cannot purge emotion or shape opinions. They may talk about controversial subjects, however there aim is to inform objectively and supply evidence. the most widley known example of something like this is many of david attenborughs work such as Our Planet (2019)
Observational Documentary
much like the title says, the documentary aims to look at the daily lives of the subject of the film as a "fly-on-the-wall" without interveining or intruding on the lives of the subject, makeing the footage film real and raw. The most popular example of this form of documentary making is the recent Tiger King (2019) following the controversial life of zoo owner Joe Exotic and other animal handlers
Participatory Documentary
The participatory documentary is the opposite of the observational documentary in which the interviewer will phisically interect with the paticipants and people who are the focus of the project. Louis theroux is a prime example of this form of documentary making such as his documentary on "The most hated family in america" where he questions the families beleifs and asks what they are doing is right.
Reflective Documentary
This form of documentary is much like a a self made documentary where the person the documentary is based on is themselves. a good example of this would be exit behind the gift shop, a documentary based on street artist bansky.
Performative Documentary
This type of documentary making includes recreations of events such as events that happen so long ago. this can also include large amounts of participation on the half of the makers.
Both suitable examples that fit in here is the series "Britains Most evil Killers" and the controversial documentary "Super Size me (2004)
From the types of documentary that i have looked into, i have came to the conclusion that our project falls into the narrative and performative documentary, as the project is based on an essay written by our producer as well as recreating events.