Whether it is a campaign for a cause or simply a way to inform the public about something that they might not have known, documentary films often have a call to action at the end of them. This call to action can be to donate to a certain charity, volunteer time or change their habits.
Observational
Observational documentary film is an experimental form of anthropological inquiry that reproduces contents that cannot be reduced to messages and explanations through the language of scholarly prose. These contents are a fine grain account of particular socio-cultural systems and can be difficult to control through discursive choices. Observational documentary film also serves as an exploration of what MacDougall calls “social aesthetics” or culturally patterned sensory experience. There are many differences between movie and film and this kind of filmmaking echoes recent anthropological interest in the visual contexts in which “culture” is embodied. Moreover, it is a mode of ethnographic film that eschews the industrial model of documentary production by adopting a spontaneous, immediate approach to filmmaking.
Expository
The primary aim of this type of documentary is to inform and persuade the audience by presenting an authoritative commentary that supports their arguments, even if it is not always easy to hear or understand. The narrator often sounds “omniscient” with a rich, sonorous voice.
Observational Documentary is another documentary mode that involves the filmmaker within the film, allowing them to be transparent about their work and the process of making it. This mode is referred to as cinema verite, direct cinema, or fly-on-the-wall documentary. This mode is a critical and reflexive approach to documentary that considers the processes and implications of documenting stories. This approach encourages a deeper understanding of the film and the subjects, allowing for greater range of expression than other modes do. It can involve staging reenactments or interviewing a subject to show the emotions and journey of a person’s life or struggle.
Poetic
Another example of a poetic documentary is Gustav Deutsch’s Samsara, which uses manipulated found footage to show the lives of people in the silent era as it explores how each person was influenced by their environment. This cinematic style breaks from standard editing rules and emphasizes visual rhythm over continuity, which creates a new way to observe the world.
Because a poem is often about creating a mood, poetic documentaries don’t need to follow traditional storytelling arcs or move characters to resolutions. In fact, since they’re focused on evoking a certain mood or feeling, it doesn’t make sense to have a linear narrative. This is why it’s important to think about how you can use your own feelings when making a poem-like documentary.
Symbolic
Symbolism can be used in a wide variety of different ways, from setting to character to object. The key to incorporating this tool into your screenplay is to ensure that the symbolism is subtle but also noticeable enough that your audience picks up on it and can then piece together the message you’re trying to get across.
For example, the color green is often used to symbolize jealousy. This is an effective method to help the audience understand what is being said by the screenwriter and can be used to help the audience connect with the characters in the story. Another great way to incorporate symbols into your film is by using parallelism. This is when you cut between scenes and can create a symbolic connection for your audience. A good example of this is in the movie Signs. The director uses this technique to make an important point about the signs that God sends in your life. This can help you to protect your loved ones and see that everything happens for a reason.
Scripted
The most important thing to remember about scripting a documentary film is that it should be a work in progress. The best documentaries are those that are shaped and refined as the filmmaker re-understands their story.
A great tip for documentary script writers is to keep track of all of their research findings throughout the pre-production process, and to catalog them in a way that is easy to reference. This will allow them to bring in more information and points of view as they go through the documentary-making process, which will ultimately result in a more rigorously-researched and compelling final product. Typically, the first step in writing a documentary script is to create a treatment or logline. This is a sort of film proposal that outlines the synopsis of the documentary and helps attract collaborators, funders and interviewees.