Published: April 3, 2019 | Last Updated: September 12, 2024
If you are a budding documentary filmmaker but are unsure what subgenre to tackle, you’re in the right place.
This article describes seven important documentary film subgenres. Pick a couple to watch within each genre (I have some suggestions), see if you get inspired, and then go out shooting your own!
1. Travel Documentary
Travel documentaries can take many forms – film, online series, television programs, etc.- but they all portray travel and introduce spectators to the culture, customs, geography, food, and other unique traits of a particular country or region.
Usually, a leading person travels and is present on the screen or narrates and leads a coherent story. Travel documentaries often have the primary goal of familiarizing spectators with other cultures and geography.
One of the most notable travel documentaries that everyone should at least know about is Around the World in 80 Days (1989) created by Michael Palin.
It is a BBC travel series based on the novel of the same title. In the film, the journey follows the same routes as in the book. To this day, it is considered to be one of the best travel documentaries ever made.
Another great travel documentary film to watch is Encounters at the End of the World (2007), a film by a world-renowned filmmaker Werner Herzog.
It is a powerful film in which the filmmaker travels to the McMurdo Station in Antarctica to explore all the secrets and beauty hidden there. The extreme conditions and amazing shots make it a film that everyone should watch.
2. Nature Documentary
Like travel documentaries, nature documentaries feature nature and animals, usually (but not necessarily) in their natural habitat. Most are made into television series, but many are also made for cinemas.
Most of these types of films focus on place, species or a scientific idea. Although a big part of them have an educational purpose, there are plenty of documentaries that are made just for the pleasure of viewing. Not all of them have an on-screen presenter, and some of them lack voiceover as well.
Watching nature documentaries is a good way to relax and unwind, but they also tend to have great color grading, beautiful shots, and views that are unbelievably stunning. Truly the best way to relax and learn a great deal about the world we all live in.
One of the best-known nature documentaries often cited in today’s media is Planet Earth (2006), created by Alastair Fothergill and famously narrated by David Attenborough.
It features amazing 4K footage, intriguing commentary, and impressive shots that have hypnotized viewers worldwide. Whether you love nature documentaries or not, give this one a try.
3. Ethnofiction
Ethnofiction is a film genre that combines documentary and fiction. It is a relatively old genre—the first films were produced in the 1920s and 1930s.
You can distinguish ethnofiction from other types of documentaries by 1) it has a created narrative, and 2) it features characters, that are often portrayed by the native people, who play their roles as a part of being in a social or ethnic group.
It is nearly impossible to get accurate footage of such natural ethnic narratives, as the presence of a camera will interrupt them in one way or another. However, if the natives have a role to play, such as being themselves and doing their daily duties, the camera becomes a part of it all, as well as the person behind it, can get involved and get better results.
Ethnofiction can be viewed as ethnographic research that has been documented. The main aim of these films is to portray and preserve ethnographic research that can otherwise be very hard to represent.
Some good examples would be Moana (1926), created by one of the fathers of the documentary genre – Robert J. Flaherty. Flaherty and his family lived in Samoa for more than a year when making the film.
Flaherty went beyond observing and filming the lives of the people in Samoa. He also staged and re-enacted scenes of the rituals and exotic practices, which had, in some cases, become obsolete by that time.
However, the fact, that he managed to show and preserve these practices on film earns this film a title of ethnofiction and docufiction.
4. Docufiction
The main premise of docufiction is the introduction of unreal events or fictional situations into the narrative to strengthen the portrayal of reality. Docufiction uses creative expression as a part of its genre.
This might sound an awful lot like ethnofiction (and they did, in fact, evolve around the same time), but docufiction has its distinctions.
To clear this up a little bit – not all the docufictions are ethnofictions. Docufiction is practically the same as ethnofiction, except that it is not-ethnographic.
A good example that everyone interested in filmmaking should see is On the Bowery (1956), directed by Lionel Rogosin.
The film focuses on the small group of real-life residents and alcoholics, who lives in New York’s skid row which was then Bowery. Three days of their lives are depicted, as they try to uphold a life by lying, stealing, and drinking in the bars of Bowery while dreaming of a better life elsewhere.
On the Bowery was nominated for an Academy Award and to this day it is critically acclaimed. It has also been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
5. Docudrama
Docudrama shares some similarities with docufiction, but has a strong staged element of drama. This might be an ideal genre for the lovers of an intriguing documentary.
This genre is usually prevalent in a wider variety of formats, such as radio and television programming and feature films.
The main difference between docufiction and docudrama is that while docufiction is staged at the real time of the events, docudrama is always filmed subsequently. If you are a fan of docufiction, you might like this genre a lot too.
To give a better example of what this genre is, crime film Goodfellas (1990) directed by Martin Scorsese, can be categorized as a docufiction film.
Goodfellas is based on the non-fiction book Wiseguy (1985), written by Nicholas Pileggi, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese.
The film portrays the metaphoric rise and fall of a real person – criminal Henry Hill. The level of accuracy and the fact that the film was made to portray the lives of those leading the criminal lifestyle in 1955-1980, is what makes it a docudrama.
Other famous docudramas include The Longest Day (1962), Christiane F. – We children from Bahnhof Zoo (1981), Schindler’s List (1993), The Pianist (2002), and Snowden (2016).
6. Reality film
We all know what the Reality TV genre is about. The reality films are a result of the genre born out of reality TV-shows, which often fill prime time of your local television channels.
In reality films, there is a pre-determined situation created for a group of participants. The “reality” part of the show, is how the participants react to the setting, the challenges presented and each other, all while being filmed.
There is a big debate, whether you can classify reality film as a form of documentary. On the one hand, the producers can take away whatever controversial footage they have and leave it out of the screens. This will alter the viewer’s perception of the project and people in it; therefore, it will not be a clear depiction of reality. On the other hand, it could be argued, that reality films reflect reality. After all, it is unscripted; viewers can see the actual behavior of the
participants.
It is safe to say; there are many reality films that do qualify as documentaries. A good example would be Andy Warhol’s 1966 film Chelsea Girls, where he recorded his drugged-out conversations with other stars and artists.
That was one of the early examples of reality films, and Andy Warhol has contributed a lot to this genre.
7. Animated documentary
This might come as a surprise for many. As the title says, it is a genre that combines animation and documentary.
The first notable example dates back to 1918 with the Winsor McCay’s 1918 12-minute-long film The Sinking of the ‘Lusitania’, which uses animation to portray the 1915 sinking of RMS Lusitania.
Animated documentaries are still being produced. They are a very good way to introduce documentaries into classrooms—with the twist of animation—and may interest many more students than other types of documentaries normally would.
For the longest time, this genre was only made in shorter formats. With the technologies advancing and filmmakers becoming more curious and experimenting, this format eventually grew into feature films.
In 2008, the Oscar-nominated Israeli film Waltz with Bashir, directed by Ari Folman, was advertised as the first feature-length animated documentary. The film is about war, and it depicts Folman searching for his lost memories of being a soldier in the 1982 Lebanon War.
Many critics acclaimed Waltz with Bashir; it is a must-watch for any documentary lover.
Closing Thoughts
Whether you are a fiction filmmaker or a YouTube vlogger, it is always worth exploring the documentary genre. Documentaries encapsulate many qualities and techniques that every video maker can greatly benefit from.
The documentary filmmaking genre has a vibrant history, and it has contributed to a lot of new subgenres.
