documentary Formats

Poetic
a poetic documentary is a interview based format which provides information around peoples reflections/experiences on the subject. for example the topic is drug addiction, the person getting interviewed would express the experiences with drugs. this mostly uses different angles of camera shots, motions of the camera and dramatic music to provide more dramatic viewing emotion wise. so if it was a positive story, it would have positive music and if it was negative, it would have negative music etc.

Observational
It is where the recorder observes something (mostly animals) and record their reactions/actions to certain situations. this is very popular in the nature documentaries. also the observer isnt in the shot in the majority of these formats of this documentaries. these would be an interview kind of setup as its hands on camera and moving around so the camera can be shaky in most of them.

Reflective
A reflective format interacts with the audience at the time of the recording. this is mostly done because it shows the reality side of things instead of just saying the information. this type is mostly will be recorded in public areas so they can engage with other people. they don't use reconstructions in this format!

Expository
this format is used for non-fictional purposes and presented by the observer using a voice over. this format is really popular in crime/investigation documentaries and there are loads of reconstructions in this format as it trying to resemble past incidents like murder etc.

participatory 
this format is where the incident is presented and created by the observe. this is also used in crime documentaries.

Preformative
an preformative format is used to dedicate the emotion side to things. this is used in documentaries that are trying to express the event. a great example of this is the holocaust documentaries which is sowing how bad it was back them providing a huge load of emotion the the audience.