1. Poetic mode
The poetic mode was introduced into documentaries in the 1920’s as
a reaction against both the content and the rapidly crystallizing
grammar of the early fiction film. Instead of using traditional linear
continuity to create story structure, the poetic documentary filmmaker
arrives at its point by arranging footage in an order to evoke an
audience association through tone, rhythm, or spatial juxtaposition.
Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia (1938) is a classic example of how a poetic
documentary emphasizes visuals to encourage the audience to
understand an inner truth of the text. The focus of this documentary is
on the Aryan athletes representing Nazi Germany at the 1936 Berlin
Olympic Games. Robert Flaherty’s Man of Aran (1938) also follows the
poetic mode considering Flaherty filmed scenes intended to fit into his
desired narrative and conclusion, rather than allowing reality to guide
his direction.
2. Also having first appeared in the 1920's along with the poetic documentary, the
expository documentary on the other hand constructs a specific argument or a
point of view for the audience. Generally, the formula is a resonating,
authoritative voice (like the silky baritone of Morgan Freeman in March of the
penguin that tells you something with corresponding footage proving that it is,
indeed, true. The expository mode aims to educate the audience and evoke
and gratify a desire to know. It can perhaps be assumed that it portrays an
accurate representation of a given reality. While the logical, linear structure of
expository. Although this theory does indeed misrepresent reality, it should be
considered that the intentions of the expository mode are educational and
therefore research must have been done in order to legitimately present a
certain view,
Perhaps the most familiar example to use is Night Mail (1936); an early
documentary that follows a postal train’s overnight journey to Scotland in
which its mail is sorted, dropped, and delivered. Nowadays the expository
mode is mostly associated with nature documentaries such as The Blue Planet.
Expository Documentary
3. Observational documentary is probably the most analysed mode of all the types of
documentaries. The form is also referred to as cinema verité, direct cinema or fly-
on-the-wall documentary.
Observational documentary's strive for cinematic realism. The gritty realism
produced by actuality filmmakers of the 1960s and 70s was achieved through
technological advances made ten years earlier. Faster lenses for shooting in low
light conditions and smaller cameras that could now be handheld. So, they were no
longer tethered to a sound recorder with an audio sync cable. An unobtrusive crew
of two could shoot almost anywhere with available light and follow actuality as it
unfolded. In this form of documentary the filmmakers usually just film raw footage
and do not really edit It much and no not ask questions to the audience they let
the audience make up there own minds.
one of the most famous filmmakers who used this mode is Boston director
Frederick Wiseman, who was considered by many to be the master of
observational cinema. He is known for his ground breaking studies of institutions
and big social issues (“High School,” 1968)
Observational Documentary
4. participatory documentary is when the encounter between
filmmaker and subject is recorded and the filmmaker
actively engages with the situation they are documenting.
The participatory mode aims for immediacy. Also, it often
presents the filmmaker’s point of view.
Some of the most notable filmmakers that use this model
are the investigative work of filmmaker Nick Bloomfield an
examples of documentary's that use this mode is Kurt and
Courtney 1998 and Tales of the Grim Sleeper 2014.
Bloomfield shoots with a skeletal crew handling audio mixer
and boom mic himself. He often rolls camera on the way to
the next location and gives anticipatory commentary to
camera when he’s not conducting gun and run interviews.
participatory documentary
5. Documentaries made in reflexive mode provoke audiences to “question
the authenticity of documentary in genera. reflexive documentary is not
about the relationship with the filmmaker and the subject, but rather the
filmmaker and the audience. Showing the man (or woman) behind the curtain
One of the best examples of this mode Is in The Man With A Movie Camera
Dziga Vertov, the Russian film pioneer makes it clear that what the audience is
watching is not reality but rather a construction of reality. The film is silent and
contains no interstitial titles.
Another example would be that chronicles a day in the life of a metropolis, the
1929. This documentary includes scenes of the film’s cameraman and how he
went about getting his shots. Also intercut with scenes of factories, trains and
crowded streets are short sequences of a diligent film editor working with
individual frames from the film. By clever juxtaposition of scenes and images,
Vertov gives us a sense that the film we are watching is being assembled right
before our eyes.
Reflexive Mode
6. The performative mode of documentary is the direct opposite of the
observational mode. In Observational documentaries. Observation
of the subject is the director’s aim. A Performative documentary
emphasizes the filmmaker’s own involvement with the subject.
Furthermore, the filmmaker shows a larger political or historical
reality through the window of There own experience. Rather than
rely on the expository approach, the performative filmmaker
becomes a personal guide. The guide shows it and tells it like it is
with raw emotion. In performative mode the filmmaker gives a
what’s it like to be there perspective on a world, a culture or an
event in history. Without that perspective, it’s likely the audience
would otherwise never know those topics.
An example of this mode is Tongues Untied 1989 the late African-
American filmmaker Marlon Riggs combines actuality, re-
enactments and his personal account to shine a light on black gay
American identity.
performative mode
7. Bill Nichols
American documentary theorist, Bill
Nichols distinguished between
documentary styles and developed
6 modes, outlined in his book
‘Introduction to Documentary’.
Nichols identified certain traits
visible in documentaries that were
utilised by the documentary maker
either consciously or simply
because that is their way of telling
their truth and sharing their
knowledge. Nichols explains that all
documentaries make use of one or
more of the 6 modes.
Understanding the various modes of
documentary can come in useful not
just for analysing documentaries but
for a filmmaker creating their own
documentary.
