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Writer's pictureAnnie Francesca Latham

The Participatory Mode of Documentary


The participatory documentaries that while including various elements of observational and expository, such as it simply observes the world that it shows in the documentary. Participatory documentary also includes the filmmaker in the narrative of the film being as a minor character or and extra, or even just having the voice of the filmmaker heard within the film and having the subjects responding to the filmmakers questions or cues, participatory documentaries can also have the filmmaker having a direct influence on key actions within the narrative.

The participatory mode became popular in the 1960’s this was because of new technology that had risen that allowed for sync sound recording. This mode is often identified as investigative filmmaking where the filmmaker can ask a question or a controversial topic is brought up, thus showing the audience the filmmaking process of their subject. It can often involve ethics and politics and the audience can experience the views of the filmmaker whilst creating their own throughput the film.

Although this style can lead to biased documentaries as the subjects, actions and the facts within the film can be altered or influences by the film maker, so as to create a strong and evident argument either for or against the subject of the film. However, it is most often described as the style that holds the most truth as it allows for the observation and engagement of the subject of the film, as it allows the audience to experience what it is like for the filmmaker in the situation presented in the film and how that situation alters as a result.

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