This document outlines different conventions used in documentary filmmaking. It describes expository conventions which use a voiceover and edited footage to make an argument. Observational conventions involve location shooting with no voiceover or interviews to hide the filmmaker's presence. Reflexive conventions borrow fiction techniques for emotional responses and rely on suggestion over facts. Performative conventions involve the filmmaker interacting with subjects and addressing the audience directly on personal topics like identity. Participatory conventions also involve interaction and informal interviews with archive material and location shooting. Poetic conventions give a subjective view without a narrative through mood, tone, and unrelated shots linked by music.

1. Modes of Documentary Typical Conventions