1. Documentary
Styles
Bill Nichols distinguishes 6 different types of documentaries: poetic,
expository, observational, participatory, reflexive, and performative.

2. Poetic Mode
-‘Resembling fragments of the world’
-Poetic Mode tends towards subjective interpretations of the
subject.
-It explores the complex editing within a documentary;
juxtaposing and linking images, video clips and music etc.
together to effectively attract the audience.
-Poetic editing explores “associations and patterns that involve
temporal rhythms and spatial juxtapositions.” (Nichols 2001)
-Opens up possibility of alternative forms of knowledge to
straightforward transfer of knowledge
Joris Ivens is an example of documentary film with follows the
poetic mode. This production made in 1929 uses a composition of
unrelated shots to illustrate a rain shower in Amsterdam.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPD2C0K38jY
Koyannisqatsi 1982 is an example of a poetic mode documentary
which illustrates such subjective impressions with little or no
rhetorical content (known as an avant-garde)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSTTOO5-xSI

3. Expositional Mode
-John Grierson provides an explanation for the move
away from poetic mode. He states that filmmakers got
caught up in social propaganda and started focusing on
the social problems of the world.
-Expository mode explores documentaries which include
factual information and figures, having interviews to back
up the topic also. The documentaries aim to inform the
audience by passing on information.
-Narration is also used in these documentaries to support
and explain the documentaries content.
-Films, news and television programmes uses this mode
to effectively transfer information.
An example of this is ‘America’s Most Wanted’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRlUpGijD2k
In this short clip of the documentary we can see the use
of narration, interviews and facts and figures which create
the informative documentary.

4. Observational Mode
-Observational mode introduces the mobility of the
camera “new, light equipment made possible an
intimacy of observation new to documentary, and this
involved sound as well as image.” This means we are
now able to capture a more intimate and personal
filming.
-Observational mode tends to just observe, allowing
viewers to reach to their own conclusions of the
documentary.
-Pure observational documentarians proceeded under
some bylaws: no music, no interviews, no scene
arrangement of any kind, and no narration.
An example of this documentary mode could be ‘Big
Brother’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a2tCsxDyi8&featur
e=related
This documentary includes a fly on the wall camera
shooting, allowing housemates to do as they wish whilst
cameras are watching. The viewer is then able to judge
the programme without any narration or arrangement
to alter otherwise.

5. Participatory Mode
-Participatory mode emphasises the interaction between
the filmmaker and the topic of the documentary.
-The filmmaker tends to become the subject of the
documentary.
-Actively engaging with the situation they are
documenting asking questions and sharing experiences.
-Not only is the filmmaker part of the film, we also get a
sense of how situations in the film are affected or altered
by her presence.
An example of this mode could be the Life of Michael
Jackson by Bashir (2004)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl0uqobeVDM
This documentary includes a subject, plus the filmmaker
being the interviewer and presenter.
Another examples could be Sherman’s March by Ross
McElwee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzLXr2tShGE

6. Reflexive Mode
-Reflexive mode exposes the awareness and
construct of the documentary.
-Conveys to people what they are seeing are not
exactly the truth, but a reconstruction of the truth.
The audience are made aware of the editing, sound
and recording etc.
-The goal in including these images was, “to aid the
audience in their understanding of the process of
construction in film so that they could develop a
sophisticated and critical attitude.” (Ruby 2005)
An example could be A man with a movie camera
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00ZciIC4JPw

7. Performative Mode
-Acknowledges the emotional and subjective aspects of a
documentary and also addresses the audience
emotionally.
-Presents ideas as part of a context, having different
meanings for different people, often autobiographical.
-The emphasis of the filmmaker’s attitude or personal
engagement with a subject to evoke the audience’s
reaction.
-Documentary is shaped into the narrative of an
organisation, conclusion is unidentified.
An example of this mode could be Tongues Untied by
Marlon Riggs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX9reaHLwhk
Another example could be An inconvenient truth by
Davis Guggenheim
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZbsN8V7_ro