Performative and Participatory Mode Analysis

Participatory Mode 

Example: Supersize Me

Clip: https://youtu.be/S9__23-zjhM

As you can see from the clip, it shows a seven minuet extract from Supersize Me, the director Morgan Spurlock attempts and succeeds at only eating food from MacDonald's for thirty days. This is a good example of participatory mode as the director is physically taking part in this social experiment to feel the result as well as finding them.

Where the clip only provides seven minuets of the documentary, the actual film lasts an hour and forty minuets. It is a stand alone documentary which supports this length as if it were in series, most likely it wouldn't be as long. I also think that there is a good sense of verisimilitude as performative mode involves literally being involved. You feel as if you are on a journey with the director as you watch the effects of the social experiment mentally as well as the other medical side effects he endured. As he is presenting as well as taking part, there is diegetic sound which also adds to the realism. However, voiceovers are used to describe the setting and effects. Moreover, the use of hand-held shots which are frequently used in this documentary emphasis the casual aspect of making the audience feel as if they are completing the challenge with him,

Overall, I think that participatory mode is a mode I'll consider using for my documentary as it has a strong sense of realism which I think is important. People watch documentaries to gain knowledge as well as an entertainment factor so you want to prove that you are capturing true moments of footage.


Performative Mode

Example: Tongues United

Clip: https://youtu.be/tWuPLxMBjM8

In this clip it shows an extract from the documentary Tongues United. Marlon Riggs with assistance from other back gay men celebrate men, specifically black men loving other men as a revolutionary act. This is a perfect example of performative mode as the documentary is narrated with artistic features such as a poem being read. The documentary focus' on one man's personal experience yet it captures many other men to talk about the issue of discrimination they face.

It is a documentary film which runs for fifty-five minuets. This is an average length for a stand-alone documentary however I do believe that this could qualify to work as a series, even though it is not due to the length. Acoustically, the documentary works in a very artistic way. There are non-diegetic sounds music to represent their culture and chanting over a montage of them expressing themselves through dance. Even though the documentary has these dramatic elements it still captures realism as it provides footage of men discussing their issues in distress. We also see live evens of ranting which proves to the audience just how bad this socio-political debate is. The voiceover emphasis' to the audience how bad the situation is as we hear statistics and facts of traumatic events which have come from discrimination towards the men. Close up's are frequently used as the audience can see the emotion on the men's faces in two ways; when they are happy and enjoying expressing themselves and in contrast when they are talking about their issues.

When it comes to filming my own documentary I defiantly think that I'll consider performative mode as it has a strong realism effect towards it as well as it being pleasing to watch. Performative mode is great in terms of tackling strong issues in documentaries as it has a dramatic effect in terms of the techniques including real life stories. I would like to film a documentary which makes people reflect on how they feel towards a certain issue and I believe that performative mode does this.