Genres within documentaries - 22nd September

I then looked into the different genres of documentary film and their variations. There are a huge number of documentary film genres ranging from hard hitting investigative documentaries such as BBC1’s Panorama which deals with controversial issues in society such as domestic violence and press regulation, to documentaries on travel and home improvements such as “A Place In The Sun” and “Homes Under The Hammer” where property development and selling are documented to an audience for the purpose of entertainment.

Though both of these constitute as documentaries, it is evident to observe that their themes vary greatly. The varying themes in documentaries determine a documentaries genre.

Here I have compiled a list of some of the main genres of documentaries, explaining what each genre entails and giving a few examples of documentaries that fall into that certain genre. It is also recognised that many of these genres overlap with one another, for example a propagandistic documentary will most likely involve conventions found within campaigning and political documentaries.

Investigative Documentaries:

Investigative documentaries as the name suggests investigate an issue. Like investigative journalism, an investigative documentary will relentlessly seek to take an issue and discover as much about it as it can. Investigative documentaries deal with hard hitting issues such as war, controversy and corruption and are primarily aimed at a more educated audience, therefore adopting themes associated with them such as debated argument and graphic images. Interviews are a convention widely used in this genre as well as the talking head, vox pop and the use of “actuality” and fly on the wall filming to depict real events, however gruesome or horrific, in their naked form.

Examples of investigative documentaries include BBC’s Panorama and Channel 4’s Dispatches. Both similar series that deal with current controversial issues in the media, investigating them and providing information for the audience about the subject through he use of interviews, facts and information.

Historical Documentaries

Historical documentaries as the name suggests inform its audiences about historical happenings. Once again aimed at an educated audience, the historical documentary seeks primarily to inform. This can however be for either educational purpose i.e. the use in schools, or for entertainment, or both. Historical documentaries frequently feature the same cocktail of conventions: the talking head, the use of expert through the medium of interview and (depending on the historical age of the content) footage from the time or reconstructions if this is unavailable.

Examples of this genre include the “World at War” series documenting the entire Second World War. This genre also encompasses many of the conventions found in artistic/cultural documentaries, which use similar conventions to inform, educate and entertain its educated audience.


Travel and home improvement documentaries

Travel and home improvement documentaries are a cross between documental film and reality T.V. Aimed at a different audience to most documentaries, this genre documents projects undertaken by property developers, D.I.Y enthusiasts and ordinary people moving house depending on the program. This genre features a lot of scripted shots intended to be “fly on the wall” in order to give the audience (often middle aged women watching day time T.V) the impression of actuality. Unlike most documentaries, this genre is often a daily program or a series of programs showed on various days of the week, all with a similar theme giving the genre its reality T.V cross over. The genre also expands to programs documenting car selling, antiques purchase and auctioning as well as programs dealing with peoples diets and weight loss, all encompassed under the same genre with similar forms and conventions.

Examples of this genre include Channel 4’s “Grand Designs”, and the BBC’s “Cash in the attic” and mainly set out to entertain its audience as well as educate them by giving advice on projects such as D.I.Y. As a genre I feel the travel documentary holds few conventions that could be useful to my piece; however I do note its standing as a major documentary genre.

Political, Propagandist, Campaigning documentaries

All of these documentaries as genres share the similar theme of persuading its audience. All of them use very persuasive techniques such as clipped interviews and carefully selected interviewee’s to give the audience a very one sided story on an issue. The main purpose of these documentaries is to gain public awareness on the issue promoted by and documented in the film. The genre often features film shot for other purposes such as film from historic marches as well as actuality filming of political marches taking place that would occur whether the camera was there or not. These documentaries are often narrated by a presenter with a mix of voice over’s and talking head, accompanied by music relevant to the film. The predominant audience for these documentaries are the higher educated and are often shown in cinemas and DVD as opposed to TV.

A notable example of a documentary that encompasses all three of these sub genres is the 1975 documentary “The Night Cleaners”, which documented the struggle of women cleaners to get a union. Though my documentary has no real political message to convey, I do seek to push either side of the argument of true or false after reaching a judgment on which is prevalent. For this I feel some of the conventions of this genre such as clips interviews could be useful.

My Documentary

After looking into the conventions of some of the major genres of documental film I have decided to base mine around the conventions used in investigative documentaries. As I am investigating a rumour and a local myth I feel it is the most fitting genre. I will use the conventions of this genre such as voice over and talking head narration as well as interviews with experts and vox pop to maximum effect. However I will slightly break away from the codes and conventions of this genre and into others slightly. As the majority of investigative documentaries deal with hard hitting topics and create a very serious, solemn atmosphere through the use of interviews and very serious narration I feel it necessary to challenge this convention. As my documentary is based on a theme a little less serious than war, famine and corruption I will make my documentary slightly more light hearted yet not comical in order to attract an audience of younger educates such as students as well as the traditional audience of educated people interested in issues of controversy and debate. This style of genre convergence can be seen prominently in some of Louis Therox’s documentaries such as U.F.O hunters which I will be analysing later in my research.