Life In Lock-down- Documentary Research What is a documentary? is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education, or maintaining a historical record" - compare documentary theatre ? Types of documentaries. Explain what they are. Give examples of each. Poetic Mode; O f documentary film tends toward subjective interpretations of its subject(s). Light on rhetoric, documentaries in the poetic mode forsake traditional narrative content: individual characters and events remain undeveloped, in favour of creating a particular mood or tone. Expository Mode gives the narrator the role to explain or argue the film's rhetorical content. Stories and statements are given through voice-over with images to illustrate the tone of the film. Using this model , the filmmaker collects footage that functions to strengthen the spoken narrative. Participatory Mode; ...