Story-telling has been around for as long as humans have. The purpose of telling stories can be to inform, entertain, or connect with other people. There are various ways this can be done, and compelling stories can leave their mark for a long time and influence people. One can imagine this when one looks at the psychological impacts our childhood stories have on us; they have helped us make sense of the world we live in.
One powerful medium of narrating these tales today is documentaries. Documentaries are films that are meant to inform and educate. They are based on actual life events and facts rather than fiction. Below are six types of documentaries as proposed by a film critic, Bill Nichols, in 1991.
Poetic Documentary
This film type is focused on visuals with a stylized and reduced verbal emphasis. Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia (1938) is an example of this form of documentary.
Expository Documentary
This kind of documentary film elaborates a specific hypothesis or shows information about a particular topic. For example, The Dust Bowl (2012) by Ken Burns is an expository documentary.
Reflexive Documentary
This documentary stresses the filmmaker’s and audience’s relationship. Man With a Movie Camera (1929) is an example of this type of film.
Observational Documentary
As the name suggests, this kind of documentary intends to observe the subject with zero participation to arrive at a nonbiased conclusion or to present the facts as is. An example is Primary (1960).
Performative Documentary
In this form of documentary, the person who is documenting this evidence is the performer as well. For example, the documentary Supersize Me (2004) by filmmaker Morgan Spurlock features his account of eating at McDonald’s for thirty days and narrating the experience and impacts on his body.
Participatory Documentary
This documentary film features the relationship between the filmmaker and the subject and narrates the filmmaker’s perspective as the ‘truth” — for example, Bowling for Columbine (2001) by Micheal Moore.
Impacts Of Documentaries
Documentaries can be powerful storytelling tools to demonstrate, educate and build opinions. In the hands of the right filmmaking company, your story can make the right impact, and your message can resonate with millions.
Whether it is about creating social impact or using this tool as a marketing technique, documentaries can be a cinematic experience and a powerful communication tool.
Final Cut Media is a film company based in Charlotte, NC, that can help produce videos, edit videos, and create documentaries to help you achieve your goals. They have been around for more than fifteen years, and you can find out more about them and their work by getting in touch.
