Types of documentary

Fully narrated:
An off screen voice over used to make sense of the visuals and dominate their meaning. e.g. Natural History documentaries. The narrator always seems authoritative and is referred to as "Voice of God".
Mixed:
Uses a combination of interviews, observations and narration to advance the topic or the argument.
Fly on the wall (cinema verite):
The camera is 'unseen' or ignored and simply records real events as they happen. There is often no narration leaving the audience to reach their own conclusions.
Self-reflective:
When the subject of the documentary acknowledges the presence of the camera and often speaks directly to the documentary maker.
Docusoap:
These documentaries follow the lives of individuals. Usually with designated occupations.
Docudrama:
A re-enactment of events as though they actually happened.

A mixture of a docusoap and a docudrama is mainly scripted, so it is made to be more entertaining. Examples of these include: Made in Chelsea and The Only Way is Essex

Documentary genre

• A documentary is documenting something that has actually happened, therefore real life events.
• They provide the audience with an insight into a topic they may not know about
• Documentaries have a main purpose to inform but they can educate an audience about a topic
• However this must be done in an entertaining way to sustain the audiences attention and interest
• John Grierson came up with the term documentary in 1926, in the same year the BBC turned corporation
• Today the audience has more choice because of audience fragmentation due to both digital and satellite television
• Moreover from narrow casting there are specific channels devoted to documentaries such as Eden and Natural History.

Introduction

Brief
For our A2 coursework we were given a brief, whereby we were told we had to create a 5 minute extract from a TV documentary programme, with the rest of the programme planned. Moreover we need to create a radio trailer to promote the documentary, and finally a newspaper advert to advertise the programme.

Types of narrative structure

• Open- There are questions left unanswered at the end the audience is left to make there own minds up about the issue e.g. assitisted suicide.
  or
• Closed- No loose ends everything is tied up at the end, there is a definate ending. e.g. 911documentaries. (clear ending)
• Linear- programme is in chronological order (order of time) e.g. 911 documentaries.
  or
• Non-linear- There is no chronological order, time is disrupted in some way e.g. Flashback
• Single strand- There is only one narrative thread (storyline, most documentaries)
  or
• Multi-strand- More than one narrative thread in the same programme, these may overlap e.g. corrie becky and steve, sean and baby, foz and murder, tina and graeme ect.. central theme e.g. born to be different.