The five Documentary Formats.

A Documentary is a factual program that is often on various aspects of day to day life. Nature documentaries are some of the most popular, however Louis Theroux is famous for doing documentaries on just about anything, for example he did one about Nazis(skinheads/white supremacists) in America. He also did one of Jimmy Saville (before he was convicted of being a pedophile). However, some of the most famous examples of a documentary are the Blue Planet(or any other documentary series). These are narrated by Sir David Attenborough who has an instantly recognisable voice, due to the fact he's done so many successful documentaries.


Expository 

An expository documentary has a disembodied and authoritative voice over. This accompanies the images on screen, this gives meaning, not opinion. Facts and arguments are given by the voice over, effectively providing captions for the new images. The voice over often compliments the images which are descriptive and informative, this helps the keep the audience involved so they don't get confused and start becoming disconnected from the documentary. A good example of an expository documentary is any form of nature documentary, such as Blue Planet.

Observational 

An Observational documentary is unobtrusive in construction and depiction. with and non-intervening, hidden filmmaker. This helps it to present a slice of life. These kinds of documentaries are often more concentrated on what is not contained e.g commentary, inter titles, interviews and such like. Observational also presents a transparent record of an event that is neutral and non-judgmental. This allows the audience to think & decode what they want from the text. An example of an observation documentary is Knuckle, which is about a ring of Irish bare-knuckle boxers.



Interactive 

The main factor that identifies an interactive documentary is the presence of a presenter. In addition to the presenter being on screen they also interact with the audience, this is usually done by narration or voice over. Agendas (arguments) are often evident in these types of documentaries. A good example of this is Louis Theroux: The Ultra Zionists as he gets immersed into conversations and debates with the 'characters' in the episode.


Reflexive

A Reflexive documentary is when the filmmaker experiments with the codes & conventions, they also try to
expose said codes and conventions to the audience. For the most part the shots look very conventional, with the shots capturing "everyday life", but they can then be used as "building blocks to create vastly different/experimental films". A well know reflexive documentary maker is Nick Broomfield, he did a documentary called "Driving me Crazy" which is a good example of a reflexive documentary.




Performative

A performative documentary is focused more of the presentation of it's content, rather than the quality of the content. It uses re-enactments, exaggerated camera angles and various soundtracks to try to immerse the audience deeper into it. They show their content in a way that's: stylish, subjective, expressive & visceral. This can often result in a documentary that focuses on one side of an argument. An example of this is Ross Kemp on Gangs as there are reenactments and dramatisations.