Reserach on Documentaries and Modes

A documentary states information on a source of proof and facts to support it. It documents reality. Even though the scenes are carefully selected and arranged due to mediation, they are not scripted, and the people in a documentary film are not actors. Sometimes, documentary films require a voice-over narration to explain what is happening in scenes. Documentaries will include interviews with the people in the film.

Documentaries are unique to other forms of non-fiction films as it provides an opinion, and a particular message, along with the facts it presents.

Documentary mode is a theoretical scheme developed Bill Nichols that looks at specific traits and conventions of diverse documentary styles. Nichols identifies six different documentary 'modes' in his schema: poetic, expository, observational, participatory, reflexive, and per formative. 2001 book, Introduction to Documentary (Indiana University Press)

The Poetic Mode mirrors fragments of the world, converting of historical material into a more conceptual, expressive form. It is usually associated with 1920s and modernist ideas. Examples are Night Mail and Drifters by Grierson. This style is more literal, very cinematic and great for conveying emotions and feelings rather than documentaries that follow an established clear continuity.

The Expository Mode directly addresses the audience revealing social issues build up into an challenging frame, mediated an objective voice intoned (voice-of-God narration) throughout film, associated with 1920s-1930s, and some of the rhetoric and polemic surrounding WW2. It basically outlines facts and opinions showing key information.

The Observational Mode is about technology advanced by the 1960s and cameras became smaller and light, able to document life in a less interfering manner, there is less control required over lighting etc, leaving the social actors free to act and the documentarists are free to record without interacting with each other. It is also known as direct cinema and it aspire to invisibility. An example is The Family.

The Participatory mode is the encounter between the film-maker and subject that is recorded, the film-maker actively engages with situation they are documenting, asking questions of their subjects, sharing experiences. It is heavily reliant on the honesty of witnesses. The process is made visible; it basically tells the story of how they make the film and the journey. (Ross Kemp in Afghanistan)

The Reflexive mode demonstrates consciousness of the process of reading documentary, and takes part actively with issues of realism and representation, acknowledging the presence of the viewer and judgements they arrive at. It draws attention to itself as a documentary questioning realism.

The Performative Mode acknowledges the emotional and subjective aspects of documentary, and presents ideas as part of a context, having different meanings for different people, often autobiographical in nature. It is a contemporary mode that could be associated with post-modernism. It gives up with the truth and lives with the facts. (Airport)
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