DOCUMENTARY UNIT: DAY 2

The morning was all about learning about the history and tradition of documentaries. This meant finding out about people like John Grierson the founding father of documentaries and the man who coined the term Documentary. I now know that he ran the Empire Marketing Board(EMB) film unit which had such members as Edgar Anstey, Humphrey Jennings and Harry Watt all young up and coming directors. Through this organisation he and his team made over 100 documentaries (Drifters, Industrial Britain and The Song of Ceylon) until it was closed down in 1933.

Screenshot from Drifters (1929)

The other thing from this morning was the different types of genres found in documentary making. 

Main Types:

1. Observational - Meaning the director will just go somewhere and the documentary will play out, how events played out in the situation involved.
2. Participatory - Means the people involved can have a say in the final outcome and what hey talk about, this means they can have honour and not be humiliated by cruel presentation.
3. Reflexive - Where the maker of it is also seen in front of camera providing narrative. It's the kind of doc that the audience will be interested for not just for the subject, but as much the process of making the doc.
4. Expository - Talks directly to audience with voiceover portraying a certain view on something.
5. Educational - Teaching the viewer about a subject.

Hybrids:

1. Drama Doc - Features dramatised re-enactments of real events e.g. Touching the Void (2003).
2. Docu Soap - Form of unscripted reality show following people round in a documentary style e.g. Ice Road Truckers.
3. Reality TV - Show which often highlights drama between people who may not have been famous prior to show e.g. Geordie Shore. 
4. Factual Entertainment - e.g. Undercover Boss