Story Boards and Beginning To Film

Storyboard

I drew out a quick plan using basic imagery to help the group sort out a possible order for the footage when it comes to filming and editing.

The first thing we did was film a short journey going into each school from the car. This creates a nice point of view shot that the students will experience every day they go to school. We did this because we thought it would be a nice way for the viewers to feel more involved and is a different way of showing the location.

Documentary Process So Far

Planning the Interviews

As a group we have written down a huge amount of questions that we felt were appropriate to ask. Many will be irrelevant in the end and may not be used and some we may film and cut out when we come to edit the interviews.

Some of these questions include:

- For Teachers 

• Do you enjoy teaching to the students in your school?
• Would it make a difference if you worked at a private or public school?
• Do you find that students are better behaved when in uniform?
• Do you think the teachers make the most of the facilities available?
• Are there any parts of the school that you think need improving?
• Does paying for education actually make a difference to how students learn?
• Is it unfair that private school is so expensive when students that cannot afford it would benefit from a better education?
• Is the location around the school suitable?
• Are there enough things for students to do as extra curricular?
• Does the school support every student equally?
• What does a normal school day consist of?

- For the Students

• Do you enjoy the school day?
• Is it easy to get on with everyone in your classes?
• Do you think money can buy better education?
• Do you enjoy wearing a uniform?
• Are the teachers strict enough or too strict?
• What is the general atmosphere at school?
• Do you find the breaks long enough?
• Are your lessons used to full potential?
• Do you think there are enough facilities?

There will be other questions we come up with during group discussions and filming periods. Adjustments will be made every day.

Location Shots

HEATHSIDE

It was obvious to us that taking location shots would help us plan where and what we are going to film for the final piece, by taking and examining the images we can therefore go into further detail and make observational comparisons. Being students at Heathside School we took these images from around the school grounds and plan on doing the same thing around St Georges College as the next step in our preparation.

Here we have: 

The entrance sign to the school.

Quiet Playground - surrounded by the Design Technology classrooms.

 The benches and bins in the quiet playground. (Ramp facility in the top left corner for the disabled)

 The long jump and sand pits.

 The outside area of the combined and concreted tennis/netball/hockey court.

 Inside of the courts.

Sports field with students using it.

 Students doing cross country training around the field.

ST GEORGES

Developing and Planning into the Final Idea

We have all the ideas written down in basic form and today we had a large discussion about ways in which we can make the documentary stand out and be interesting for our audience.
Agreeing and disagreeing are what helped us figure out ways in which we would carry out the project.
It became immediately apparent that we would need to go around each location and make a few discoveries and discuss how we could create footage on certain aspects of the subject.
We took a walk around Heathside and took photographs and are going to decide what parts we will include in the final documentary.
The next thing we want to do is practice filming interviews as this is an important thing to get right for the whole documentary to work and come together properly. We will take it in turns to film and ask questions so we can each get some experience before beginning the final production.
Creating well worded questions will be important because it is vital that we get interesting answers out of our interviews that will help support our topic and keep the documentary interesting.

Magazine Article Planning

As well as creating a documentary, i am also creating a magazine article individually. I have created a powerpoint on my research of similar magazine articles as what i want mine to be similar to.

Final Idea

As a group we came together and decided on the idea of public V private school.
- This idea came from the fact that one of our group members Meg was a student at a private school before she came to our public sixth form college.
- The two schools we are focussing on are: Heathside School (where we are all currently studying) and St Georges College (a local private school where Meg used to study).
- We will be looking at the comparisons between the following things:

• Uniform - how smart or scruffy, if it is strict and whether the students like the uniform they have to wear.
• Facilities - this is a varied point to analyse because it involves classrooms, sporting facilities, canteens and school grounds.
• Teaching - teaching standards is often different and by interviewing the teachers themselves we can get an idea of how it feels to be a teacher working at a private school and a public school.
• Behaviour - this is a general reflection on how well a school is doing, if the students are well behaved the school is generally successful whereas if the behaviour is not great this will always reflect on the school in general.
• Exam results - including the GCSE exam results over the recent years, these can be compared and help build a good argument between public and private schools.

public vs private

View more presentations from anna_beagley.

Mark Scheme

Mark scheme

As an individual I feel that looking at the mark scheme in detail is a better way of knowing what to do when it comes to fulfilling the project. I will refer back to this when i need to.

Camera Angles

Close Up: 
This is often used on objects of significance to the narrative to show that is has an importance to a certain story, could be a book of some kind or a letter (if it is done with a close up the audience can read the words and then understand). If it is used as a facial close up, it can focus on emotion of characters and this will intensify how the audience feel towards certain people.

Establishing Shot: 
This is a simple shot often outside, that indicates where action will take place, so if it is outside a shop then before the action in the shop happens to open up the scene there will be an establishing shot of the shops name/logo.

Low Angle Shot: 
The camera will be placed below the actor looking up on them, this can make an object, person or building seem a lot larger than it actually is, this has the effect of letting the audience know how powerful, intimidating, strong or imposing the certain thing is.

High Angle Shot:

Taken from above a person, object or anything else to make it look less significance, often represents withering authority and can draw attention to the setting and shows importance of the environment that surrounds the insignificant object.

Wide Angle Shot:

Showing a wider view of a scene, this allows people to take in a setting and things in the setting usually have some representation towards the narrative, the wide angle shot means more characters can be involved in one and it often shows people as a team.

Framing Shot:

Using a piece of set or scenery to frame a shot, corridors, windows, doors and many other things can be used to frame and if things like this aren't used then the scenery will often surround a certain object to frame it, this shows significance and individuality of either a person or an object.

Point of View Shot:

The camera shot is set as if through the eyes of the protagonist or character, it follows movement of a person and it see's things as if being looked at from someone eyes, this establishes what they are seeing and when it is switched to the next shot as a close up showing the reaction, we can then understand why they react in such a way.

Two-Shot:

When the camera involves two people in a shot. This doesn't really add an effect it just allows the audience to see two people and what they are doing and if there is a contrast or similarity between then each character can emphasise the opposite characters look or being.

Our Documentary Time Line

As a group we got together and began to make a detailed plan of what we would do in stages. We did it in 5 day steps and made a realistic plan of timing and progress. We included planning time and filming time and towards the end editing time, then the overall evaluation. As an individual in my group it will be important for me to make sure we all stick to the planning and also put equal time and effort in to make sure our final product is a success.

Starting to Plan - Potential Ideas

After doing a quick brain storm of different ideas 3 of them stood out to me. There is so many topics available and mockumentary is also a possibility, however a serious documentary will prove more skilful and educational. Here is the planning of ideas

Fast Food

- This would be an interesting topic to look at and create a documentary on because there is many things to research and discover. I would look at the effects it has on the society and the quality and pricing of food products. I would want to research into statistics and relevant dates of how fast food has evolved and become so popular.

- The only thing with this topic is that there has already been many documentaries on television and it would be hard to create something completely different on the same subject.

Teenage Antisocial Behaviour

- Being a teenager myself it would be a good way to explore the wide range of teenagers who act antisocially. There are certain areas around surrey where antisocial behaviour is common and it would be easy to get lots of footage and create an exciting documentary.

- This topic is often exposed on the news and would be easy to copy from, therefore i think it is best i do not use this to create a final documentary with my group.

Public VS Private School

- This is the most likely topic for our group, there is plenty of private and public schools to look at and research into and nothing has been done like this in documentary form on television before. Being a student at a public school sixth form there are available resources that are easily accessible.

- I will research further into this topic.

Beginning to Think of Ideas

Brainstorming became important to our group because we had to start on a blank canvas with the topic of documentary. We began to think about doing a mockumentary but realised if we took it seriously the chances are we would find it easier to get an idea and plan sensibly and get things correct and completed for the deadline.
We thought of making a preliminary because it would give us a chance to get familiar with how each group member works and how we would work differently for the final, we will do this around a similar subject to what we chose for the final and this may even help us develope a better idea even further.

Analysis of Previous Years Documentaries

As a class we watched through some documentaries that had been produced by students from other schools,l we were asked to tick if they had achieved certain pointers and give them a letter (M - standing for Minimal, B standing for Basic, P standing for Proficient and finally E standing for Excellent.) for each letter there is a number boundary so once the letter was given we had to choose if it was a high medium or low using the numbers given for each mark.

The criteria that we marked included:
- Holding a shot steady, where appropriate.
- Framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate.
- Using a variety of shot distances as appropriate.
- Shooting material appropriate to the task set.
- Selecting mise-en-scene including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting.
- Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer.
- Using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set.
- Using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set.

Each point was given a letter and then a number to give a slightly more detailed analysis.

C level - A documentary made about cancer for an A2 level project.
I gave this a range of mainly P's and E's and its overall score was 254. - My comment would be: It was a very moving project that included real life footage that was edited well to create an appropriate mood.

Top Gear - A documentary where 3 boys compete on different modes of transport - Bike, Bus and Car.
I analysed this with mostly P's with a few E's and a B and an M. It scored a 216 overall. - My comment is: An interesting use of footage and a slight sense of comedy, keeps audience involved and suspension is also created well.


The Truth About Teenagers - This was about teenagers that are percieved as being bad and dangerous and making the point that teenagers are also good and helpful.
This got a range of B's and P's and a total score of  190. - My comment would be: The subject was not very interesting and editing wasnt the best. Everything was done but it could have been done to a higher standard to put the analysis score up.

After watching these examples I found it extremely useful to see what a good documentary looks like against some not so good ones. It allows me to see what mistakes were made and to take on board what i must include. Being critical of others work helps me to build my own knowledge about how things should be done.

Documentary Proposal

Documentary on the death of Michael Jackson

Which mode of documentary will be used

Participatory will be the main documentary mode as I plan on getting involved in what is going on through out exposing part of his life meaning it will also be expository in the way I want to expose a certain amount of information that is still uncovered.

How the chosen mode will be suitable for the subject matter and the audience

Because it is a documentary on discovery and why and how MJ died the expository suits this in everyway, the audience will find it suitable and enjoyable because they will want to watch and learn about an interesting and popular situation that has recently occurred. He was an extremely popular man and there are many theories and rumours of what caused his death. Many people had different reactions to this as well.

Where will it be filmed?

I plan on filming the documentary in a number of different places:

- Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States (his place of death)

- The Hollywood walk of fame to visit his star.

- In his relatives houses and around areas where he used to love visiting throughout his fame filled life.

Who will be interviewed and why?

-          Family members

-          Close friends

-          Doctors and surgeons

-          Locals and Neighbours from where he lived before he died

-          Fans and clients of his.

What is the role of the filmmaker?

The role of the film maker (me) is to plan and research everything I wish to include and to then gain acceptance on premises to film, I will then need to meet people who I will be interviewing and similarly to Louis Theroux I will be heavily involved in the documentary participating and being forward with my questions to get good reactions and answers from people.

Mockumentaries

Borat
"Kazakh TV talking head Borat is dispatched to the United States to report on the greatest country in the world. With a documentary crew in tow, Borat becomes more interested in locating and marrying Pamela Anderson."

 This mockumentary is a film. It has a rating of 15 as it is quite innapropriate. Many mockumentaries are innapropriate and this is why they are found in comedy genre. Some people may find the whole idea offensive. Borat is a man that goes around the United States and interviews people starting off formally and then slowly breaking into a complete joke, some people react light heartedly yet others become angry.


Summer Heights High
"Summer Heights High is a Logie Award-winning^[1] Australian television mockumentary series written by and starring Chris Lilley. It is a parody of high-school life epitomised by its three protagonists: effeminate and megalomaniacal "Director of Performing Arts" Mr G; self-absorbed, privileged teenagerJa'mie King; and disobedient, vulgar Tongan student Jonah Takalua. All played by Lilley, the characters never interact. "

Filmed in a school using all documentary techniques professionally but it is acted and isn't serious. Based on certain characters and one actor plays more than one character. Set in Australia. A lot of offensive language and behaviour but it is used for comedy and it works well.

Secret Millionaire

Secret Millionaire on Prezi

Kurt and Courtney

#

- General information / synopsis

Nick Broomfield put together a documentary just after Kurt Cobain’s death occurred. The death had been ruled suicide so the film crew arrived in Seattle to start filming to reveal the life of Kurt and Courtney and what may have caused the sudden occurrence of Kurt’s suicide. The documentary reveals many things about Kurt’s life and discusses everything that could have triggered this tragedy. Archive footage is used throughout including clips of Kurt when he was alive.

- Comments made by Nick Broomfield about the documentary

“A really long shoot, lots of druggy motels, bad meals and rain. Joan Churchill and Tine saved the situation. My editor Mark Atkins and Annabel Leech were amazing too. Lot’s of bad dreams, but epochal.”

- Comments made by critics / reviews

From 2653 votes on one site, the documentary scored a 6.2 / 10.

REVIEW: Biased, yes, but solid and never boring, 14 March 2001
Author: Hotoil

Is it objective? No. Is it informative? Yes. Is is accurate? Only as accurate as those talked to. Is it an interesting film? Without a doubt. 

This should have been called "Trying To Make 'Kurt & Courtney", because he never succeeds in making a decent look at their relationship but rather an intriguing look at his struggle to get the whole thing off the ground. He ran into a lot of trouble via Courtney Love and of course threw in his feelings toward her quite obviously in the film. 

Fans of Kurt may respect it, fans of Courtney are likely to despise it. I admit I am more a fan of Kurt than I could ever be of Courtney, he just seems a hell of a lot more real to me and she has scared me, long before this film made, with all the image make-overs and lame self-promoting publicity stunts. So I had no problem watching her get ripped into in this documentary. But a warning to hardcore HOLE fans, you may get extremely frustrated!

Like it or hate it, it won't bore you!

CRITIC

BY ROGER EBERT / June 6, 1998

Nick Broomfield does not like Courtney Love. Neither do some of the other people in her life. In Broomfield's rambling, disorganized, fascinating new documentary titled ``Kurt & Courtney,'' her father teases us with the possibility that she could have killed her rock star husband, Kurt Cobain. An old boyfriend screams his dislike into the camera. A nanny remembers there was ``way too much talk about Kurt's will.'' A deranged punk musician says, ``She offered me 50 grand to whack Kurt Cobain.'' A private eye thinks he was hired as part of a cover-up.

Broomfield is a one-man band, a BBC filmmaker who travels light and specializes in the American sex-'n'-violence scene. After an expose of the evil influences on Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss, and an excursion into a Manhattan S&M parlor (``Fetishes''), he takes his show to the Pacific Northwest to examine the unhappy life and mysterious death of Cobain--the lead singer of the grunge rock band Nirvana, apparently dead by his own hand.

Did Cobain really kill himself? No fingerprints were found on his shotgun, we're told, and the movie claims his body contained so many drugs it was unlikely he could have pulled the trigger. Broomfield's film opens with Love as a suspect, only to decide she was probably not involved, and the movie ends in murky speculation without drawing any conclusions. It's not so much about a murder investigation as about two people who won fame and fortune that only one was able to handle. Cobain probably did kill himself, but it was a defeat as much as a decision; he could no longer endure his success, his drug addiction, and his demanding wife.

When Courtney met Kurt, we learn, Cobain was already a star; she was lead singer in a second-tier local band. In 1992, in her words, ``We bonded pharmaceutically over drugs.'' In the words of a friend, she came into his life, and in a three-year period took over everything. Then, as Kurt descended lost into drugs, she got her own act together, and after his death in 1994 she won a Golden Globe nomination for ``The People vs. Larry Flynt'' and, in the doc's closing scenes, is given a ``freedom of information'' award by the L.A. chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. As she accepts her award, it is impossible not to think uneasily of ``A Star is Born.'' Broomfield is not objective. He's in the foreground, narrating everything. The real subject of his films is what he goes through to shoot them. We learn that Courtney refused permission to use her music or Kurt's (no kidding), and he tells us what songs he ``would have used'' over certain scenes. He hires paparazzi to stalk Love into a recording studio, and at the end, after she accepts the ACLU award, he barges onto the stage, grabs the microphone, and accuses her (accurately) of making implied death threats against journalists. One gathers that the ACLU, focusing on the message of ``The People vs. Larry Flynt'' and desiring a high-profile star for its benefit, honored Love a little prematurely.

In all of Broomfield's films, you meet people you can hardly believe exist. ``El Duce,'' for example, the punker who claims Love offered him money to kill Cobain, is a character out of Fellini, or hell. At the end of the movie, we are not surprised to learn he died after stumbling into the path of a train, but we are astonished to learn he was in his mid-30s; he looks like a well-worn 50-year-old bouncer. Love's father, a former manager for the Grateful Dead, has written two books about Kurt's death, both of them unflattering to his daughter, and speaks of buying pit bulls ``to put peace into our house.'' Assorted old friends, flames and hangers-on make appearances that seem inspired by the characters in Andy Warhol's ``Chelsea Hotel.'' Only Kurt's Aunt Mary, who plays tapes of him singing joyously as a child, seems normal.

Why did Kurt Cobain die? Because of his drug use, obviously, from which everything else descended, including his relationship with Courtney. He was filled with deep insecurities that made him unable to cope with the adulation of his fans; he was far too weak for Love's dominating personality; drugs and booze led to chronic stomach pain, and when he climbed over the wall of his last rehab center, he was fleeing to his death.

We learn from one of his old girlfriends that Cobain was acutely sensitive to how scrawny he was. We see a skeletal self-portrait. ``He wore lots and lots of layers of clothing to make himself look heavier,'' she says. It is one of the film's many ironies that the grunge rock fashion statement, with its flannel shirts beloved by millions, may have come about because Kurt Cobain was a skinny kid.

- What style of documentary it is

I would say that Kurt and Courtney would be an observational documentary and I would say they planned it to be this way, I also think that expository fits in well because of the amount of Kurt’s life that is exposed would suggest this. Nick Broomfield creates both documentary styles in this particular documentary by getting personal and revealing a huge amount of things that would possibly contribute to the suicide or general life of Kurt Cobain. Archive footage is expository in the sense it exposes how Kurt felt when he was alive… about money and fame.

- Interesting information

Nick Broomfield

The Rise of Documentary

+ When it was formed
Early 1900 was when documentary genre came about, they were often just short films involving things such as transport, these were called "actuality" films; then in 1926 the term 'documentary' came about. In the 1920's more genres were discovered in a documentary format:
Romanticism - heavily staged romantic films mainly showing the history of things rather than what things were like at that time.
The City Symphony - often showing people in their environments and how humans interact in areas such as the city.
Newsreel Tradition - sometimes staged but often re-enactments of previous events such as battle scenes.

+ How has it changed over the years
From the research i have done i can easily see the developement that has occured. From the beginning they have gone from extremely basic for example: Nanook of the North by Robert Flaherty

1921 was the year this documentary was made, it is fully poetic as a documentary type and the main difference is the black and white and quality of the images. There is no synchronous sound at all and the music used over the film is also quite classic. It is made up of different clips with writing to show the audience what information they need to follow what is actually happening.
Nowadays we have documentaries that are of huge comparison to this for example: Jamie's School Dinners

you can easily see how much things have changed since documentaries were first invented, the development is impressive and has come a very long way.

+ Key dates in documentary history

I created my own time line including some parts of documentary history that I feel are important.

+ Key documentary makers
A list of documentary makers I know/remember
Michael Moore
Louis Theroux
Nick Broomfield
Donn Alan Pennebaker
David Attenborough
Steve Irwin

Louis Theroux

Louis is an English broadcaster who is famous for gonzo style journalism. He currently works with BBC producing his well known documentaries and TV series.

His most recently won award is from the British Academy Television Awards where he won Richard Dimbleby Award for the Best Presenter.

Other awards and nominations include:

1996 Emmy Awards:

Nominated: Outstanding Informational Series for TV Nation

British Academy Television Awards 2001:

Won: Richard Dimbleby Award for the Best Presenter (Factual, Features and News) for Weird Weekends

2002 Royal Television Society:

Nominated: Best Presenter for When Louis Met…

British Academy Television Awards 2002:

Won: Richard Dimbleby Award for the Best Presenter (Factual, Features and News) for When Louis Met…

Nominated: Flaherty Documentary Award for When Louis Met the Hamiltons

Louis Theroux has his own website online (http://louistheroux.com/) this includes his own blog and information about the man himself. He states on the home page 'I am Louis Theroux and this is my virtual home' there are many different types of media on his website including images and animations. There is a page called Purchase and on this page it has list of some of the DVD's that are available to buy, you have the option to read what is in the possible purchase and then to buy his work... this is a clever way for him to make money and become more popular and successful. The other interesting part of his website is the forum where people can join his website and ask and answer questions.

...............................................................................

In class we started to watch a documentary called Louis and the Nazi's.

I took down notes about the techniques and conventions used to make the documentary more successful. I discovered that Louis and the Nazis was an expository type of documentary as well as reflexive and slightly participatory at the same time. He exposes a political issue whilst participating and giving his own narrative guidance, he gets involved and interview's the subjects himself in front of the character. In this documentary Louis goes round a few different groups of nazis and asks them personal stuff that sometimes can create a dangerous situation. The things he reveals to the audience are somewhat shocking to say the least. He is not afraid to dig deep even if it means hitting a nerve on one of his subjects, he often puts himself in some sort of danger by doing this but it is more exiting for the audience which is part of what makes his documentaries so successful. Below i found a short clip from youtube that is an extract of the documentary itself.

When Louis Met...
This series includes season 1 and season 2.
In season 1 Louis meets:
Jimmy Saville
Paul and Debbie
The Hamiltons

In season 2 Louis Meets:
Ann Widdecombe
Chris Eubank
Keith Harris
Max Clifford

This series follows louis meeting these famous people.. he goes into the lives of them and allows the audience to see what goes on in their lives.

'Ever wanted to ask your favourite celebrities the tough questions? Louis Theroux does just that in When Louis Met... as he follows the nation's most eccentric celebrities around asking them the tough personal questions'

This series has scored a range from 7.3-7.8 out of 10 by an average amount of votes. When Louis Met Jimmy is the favoured episode from both seasons. Here is an example of a review and a clip from the episode itself.

"Good subject, good chemistry, good documentary, 28 March 2002

Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK
Louis spends time with charity-working celebrity Jimmy Savile. He sees his homes and joins him on public appointments. Over breakfast, lunches, late nights and early mornings they get to know each other.

Like most of Louis characters, Jimmy is a bit of a character and a bit of a social misfit. We all know who he is but know little about him, what makes him tick or how he lives. Louis gets close enough to actually see beyond the character and expose areas of his life that he doesn't usually show. His relationship with his dead mother is strange – he calls her the Duchess and keeps all her clothes perfectly in her room.

Louis clearly gets attached to Jimmy and they do get on all right. Jimmy's character doesn't seem to be a character – he doesn't seem to have a guard up at all and lets Louis do anything he wants.

Overall this is one of Louis best – an interesting subject, a good chemistry and plenty of interesting tit-bits."

Michael Moore

Michael Moore is famous for his documentary making, he also writes books along side the famous documentaries.

His first documentary in 1989 was Roger & Me, This was a documentary film rated 15 about the company General Motors in Michigan closing the factory's and putting 30,000 people out of work and to raise the spirits he made this documentary film. He went searching for Roger but he could not find him.

From then on he began creating more and more extremely successful documentaries that are displayed below:
Two Mikes don't Make a Wright (1992)
Pets or Meat: The Return to Flint (1992)
TV Nation (1994-1995)
Canadian Bacon (1995)
The Big One (1997)
TV Nation: Volume One (1997)
TV Nation: Volume Two (1997)
And Justice For All (1998)
The Awful Truth Series (1999-2000)
Bowling for Columbine (2002)
The Best of R.E.M.: In View 1988-2003 (2003)
Fahrenheit 9/11(2004)
Capitalism: A Love Story (2007)
Captain Mike Across America (2007)
Sicko (2007)
Awards
Michael Moore has won many awards, he has received an Oscar and 33 other wins in his time along with 17 other nominations.
Here is a clip of him winning an Oscar in 2003.

He won a huge variety of different awards but his most popular award is the audience award which he has won 8 times. He deserves the awards because he creates some extremely powerful documentaries that hold strong cases and he always manages to succeed. His main type of documentary is expository as he often creates the documentaries where a lot of serious issues are exposed often topics to do with politics or society.

What is a Documentary

From what I have begun to research I would describe a documentary as a film or programme that informs an audience in many different ways. It often documents the process of something including sometimes peoples lives.
The different types of documentaries have there similarities and their differences, some may be more formal and others informal to an extent.
An expository documentary would seem to me a more formal type of documentary where as the observational documentaries are much less formal.

There are many conventions used for documentaries including:
- Real people and real life, no set ups or acting and no practices or scripting.

- Archival Footage that is taken from somewhere such as the internet, this can include video clips, sounds and old photographs. These are used to help inform but must not over power the main filming of the documentary.

- Photographs, these can be taken for the documentary as still shots such as a photo of a certain person that the documentary will be following. Using photographs gives the documentary maker the opportunity to show the audience a wider knowledge and view beyond what has been filmed.

- Narration / Voice over is used in most of the documentaries to help describe what is going on, it can be informative or comic but it will fit in with the action to help the audience make sense of what is occurring, can be telling a story or updating the audience.

- Interviews, these are quite important depending on what type of documentary is being made, some may not include them. This allows the documentary maker to get deeper information first hand from the person/people who know about certain situations and allows them to gives their facts and opinions in detail responding to relevant questions that we may not always hear in the footage.

Types of Documentary

The first thing I wanted to look at was the types of documentary that already existed. I knew this would help me narrow down my knowledge and help me understand the purpose of what a documentary is.

Expository 

- exposes a certain thing / person / issue

- voice overs are included, usually 'voice of god' or an expert in that area who has full knowledge on the documentary subject.

- images are often used to illustrate or counterpoint the voice over or the other way round.

- editing is used for continuity, helping the images and clips flow together to support the argument.

- it usually contains a variety of footage including interviews, stills, archive and material that is assembled to support the argument

- this type of documentary can attempt to persuade the audience to agree or learn about an important subject.
An existing expository documentary example
MICHAEL MOORE

- An analysis and exposition of a person or topic, For example: Michael Moore exposes society to forms or political corruption.
- This mode's emphasis is on rhetorical content, and its goal of persuasion. Narration is a distinct innovation of this type of documentary, it holds the weight of explaining and arguing a film's rhetorical content. This mode collects footage that functions to strengthen the spoken narrative.

Observational

- location shooting is common with use of hand held cameras
- the dominant shot is the long shot, they can show more than others such as close ups.
- synchronous and direct sound recording, there is no narrative or voice over.
- often they do not involve interviews or still images.
- the documentary makers presence is hidden throughout
- subjects pretend they are not being filmed to keep audience interested
An example of an observational documentary
THE ONLY WAY IS ESSEX

- Being there as events unfold, these documentaries tend to follow a person or event and document their journey as it occurs. The camera remains as unobstructive as possible, allowing the audience to make up their own mind.
- "New, light equipment made possible an intimacy of observation new to documentary, and this involved sound as well as image" (Barnouw 1993). The move to lighter equipment and shoulder mounted cameras allowed documentaries to leave the anchored point of the tripod.

Reflexive

- borrows techniques from fiction film for an emotional subject response
- the expressive nature of film is emphasised, anti realist techniques.
- often sound and lighting is used to create a dramatic effect.
- voice overs if present is likely to be uncertain to the audience rather than authoritative
- relies heavily on suggestion and implied meaning rather than real life true fact.
famous for his reflexive documentaries:
EROL MORRIS

- In which the film maker acknowledges their presence, they are in front of the camera and give some narrative guidance.
- To aid the audience in their understanding of the process of construction in film so that they could develop a sophisticated and critical attitude.

Performative

- documentary maker and crew interact with the subject (get involved in filming)
- often documents the crew and documentary maker commenting on the process of making the documentary
- often shaped into the narrative of an investigation or search, possible without a satisfactory conclusion.
- subject matter often concerns identity, gender and sexuality rather than factual topics.
An example of this:
KURT & COURTNEY 1998

Participatory/Interactive

- same as performative the documentary maker and crew interact with the subject.
- interviews dominate but are often informal using literally 'on the run' questioning gaining interesting feedback.
- hand held camera location shooting often appears in these.
- long takes dominate
- synchronous direct sound recording as well as voice overs often from the maker.
- the documentary maker is usually visible to the audience - intervenes and participates with the action.
the example here is:
PETER ANDRE THE NEXT CHAPTER

- Welcomes direct engagement between film maker and subject(s) - the film maker becomes part of the events being recorded.
- The film maker becomes directly involved with the issue being addressed; he becomes a character in the film; his impact on the events in the film are shown.

Poetic

- personal view of documentary makes is given on the subject of documentary
- there isn't usually a typical narrative structure.
- music is used along side action to intensify the mood and tone that has already been created
- events are under-developed and sometimes situations can be unsolved
- shots that are not related get edited together and use music and mood to link each other
- perceived as avant-garde so can often push the boundaries and be experimental.
example of poetic documentary

MAN OF ARAN

- In which an artistic narrative is constructed - sometimes the topic is more human interest rather than current affairs based.
- This mode of documentary film tends toward subjective interpretations of its subject(s). Light on exaggeration, documentaries in this mode forsake traditional narrative content.