Documentaries Genres

Observational

Doco-drama

Mockumentary

Personal Documentaries focus on Life stories and revolve around the things/ situations they have  experienced in their lifetime to current or around one constant specific  event / lifestyle they have to deal with, Personal documentaries are usually deep and touch very sensitive subjects for some viewers.

 Britain by Bike                                         

Clare Balding sets out on a two-wheel odyssey to re-discover Britain from the saddle of a touring cycle.

The six-part series, Clare follows the wheel tracks of compulsive cyclist and author Harold Briercliffe whose evocative guide books of the late 1940s lovingly describe by-passed Britain - a world of unspoiled villages, cycle touring clubs and sunny B roads.

Carrying a set of Harold's Cycling Touring Guides for company and riding his very own Dawes Super Galaxy bicycle, Clare goes in search of the world he described with such affection.Her journey to the Isle of Wight explores its unique sense of otherness - a strange power which could cure Dickens's writer's block, repel the deadly attentions of the Luftwaffe and give Victorian poet laureate Tennyson a comforting sense of his own death. - 'BBC Iplayer'.

This documentary is a personal documentary as it focuses on Claire Balding  'Journey', as sheds practically trying go through his journey in his way to gain the magnitude of what is him approaching his own death.

       Marilyn, the Last Sessions

'A unique look at the life of Marilyn Monroe, focusing on the relationship she had with Freudian psychoanalyst Ralph Greenson shortly before her death' - 4OD (Video currently unavailable)

This would be classed as a Biographical documentary due to the documentary only focusing on Marilyn Monroe's Relationship with Ralph Greenson Before her death.

 

Mind Control: America's Secret  War                                   

It is one of the ill-kept secrets of America's intelligence agencies--for decades, they have worked virtually non-stop to perfect means of controlling the human mind. But while many have suspected the existence of these projects, the details have long been preserved.

Mind Control blows the lid off years of chilling experiments, drawing on documents reluctantly released through the Freedom of Information Act and interviews with some of the victims, including a woman whose past was literally taken away.

Hear from John Marks, the author of In Search of the Manchurian Candidate, who broke the story of the CIA's abuses by unraveling the mysteries contained in financial records. All the other records pertaining to the experiments were destroyed by the agency in an attempt to prevent the details from ever being known.

After viewing this important program, you'll have reason to wonder about your own thoughts.

This is an Historical documentary as it focuses on an event in which happened in the past, and goes more in depth on the event and what led to it and what change the flow of the event, and the journey to the end of the event.

ANIMA                                                                                  

From Dominoes Falling Productions, Anima is a feature length documentary using a collaboration of various material.

Other themes include our creativity and our power as individuals and as a collective to manifest our own reality.

The film examines our relationships with ourselves, others and the environment around us. -Documentaryaddict.com

This would be classed as a analytical documentary since it focuses on one investigation and goes completely in depth so that it analysed and clarrified, what also makes the documentary special is that it uses alot of archivial footage made from various materials which works very well.

7/7: Ripple Effect                                                                

                                                          

Regarding the 7/7/2005 terrorist attacks in London, let us look at the facts, and what we were told, and compare them. Then, using Ockham's Razor and common-sense, let us see what conclusions are to be drawn, so we can all understand what most likely really did happen that day. - http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/77-ripple-effect/

This would be classed as a caused and effected documentary since it compares the facts we were told at the time and try and comprehend the situation that actually happened on that day.

When We Grow... This Is What We Can Do

When we grow is a documentary about cannabis in the UK. It looks at the history of the plant, the facts, its many uses and the laws and politics surrounding it.

Follow two young filmmakers on a shoe string budget, as they try to unravel what prohibition of cannabis really means, who it affects, who profits from it and why it was prohibited in the first place.

Featuring interviews with; a cannabis activist, a hydroponic grow shop owner, a cannabis dealer, a professor of neuropsychopharmacology, who just so happens to be a former government drugs policy advisor and a medical marijuana user who would rather die than live without it.

This would be considered as a persuasive documentary as it is supporting an illegal substance and strengthening reasons why it should be legal and how it helps and not many of the negative facts behind it.

The Lady in Number 6

The Lady in Number 6 is one of the most inspirational and uplifting stories of the year.  As the world’s oldest pianist and holocaust survivor, 109 year-old Alice Herz Sommer shares her views on how to live a long and happy life. She discusses music, laughter and how to remain optimistic come what may. The film features beautiful photographs and rare film footage that truly brings Alice’s extraordinary story to life. - nickreedent.com

This documentary would be an Eye witness since everything told in the documentary is from her own recollection, thoughts and feelings in that present time.