Observational documentaries

Observational documentaries - documentaries shot in a specific style of following action around as it happens like ' a window of the world ' therefore having not much post production input - no voice over or much editing. There is also no input from the film crew, these documentaries are shot so that the audience has their own opinion with no input.
These documentaries may make the audience feel part of whats happening therefore provide insight to information this way, instead of feeding it to them through a voice over. They allow the subject to ' move ' freely without much editing and connect the audience by making them focus solely on the story line and narrative of whats being told.
These types of documentaries were popular during the 1960's and are referenced as being a type of ' fly on the wall ' presentation.

Some common and set characteristics of observational documentaries include:

• Speech which is overheard and not directed to the camera or audience
• Synchronous sound 
• Do not hear or see filmmaker, no voice over
• Zoom lenses and hand held camera - further in-forcing the idea of the audience being real and close with whats happening along with camera following the action

Example: Salesman 1968

In this example, it is evident that there is no voice over, and the story line is carried out through the dialogue of the characters. Music has also been added, which is parallel to whats happening on screen and enhances the story. Though not the longest, some takes within the scene are long and take a few seconds to cut compared to an expository documentary. An example is with planet earth. Though some are long, most takes are cut quickly and include a voice over at every scene providing detail. This documentary however is an opposite example.

Further techniques included in Salesman are synchronized sound.