Feature and Types of Documentaries

Jasmine Harding

• Features of Documentaries: • There are 5 central elements of the

documentary according to John Carner from the University of Liverpool.

• Observation (Fly On The Wall) - putting the audience in a role of eyewitness where the camera appears to be unseen. Indirect address to the audiences i.e. speech overheard is a common factor of this en-scene observation.

• Interview - Television documentaries use interviews to make a contrast between observation sequences and are structured in 2 ways: either intercut fragments of observation or a completely uninterrupted sequence.

• Dramatisation - Even though all documentaries use a sense of drama, it is specifically used to portray people and events the film maker cannot gain access to in real life. These sequences are said to be based on fact.

• Mise-en-scene - Literally what the directors and producers put into the frame, so for example lighting and props in interviews.

• Exposition - Simply means the line of argument in a documentary which is what the doc' is 'saying'. Sequences that lead the audience to make their own conclusions.