The Reflexive mode of documentary is unique because it breaks the fourth wall between filmmaker and viewer. This mode acknowledges how it is made, to portray to the viewer that this is merely a representation of truth. This form shows the viewer the world and the struggles with recreating it. As Nichols puts it, “Instead of seeing through documentaries to the world beyond them, reflexive documentaries ask us to see documentary for what it is: a construct or representation”.

Surname Viet Given Name Nam is an example of this mode. This film interviews five Vietnamese women about the oppression they suffered for being a woman in Vietnam. Eventually the viewer discovers that the women being interviewed are not the women who experienced these things, but are actually Vietnamese immigrants reading scripts from an interview done years before. This film shows the viewer that what they thought was real was really just a representation of what was once real.

Participatory mode of documentary is also an unique form because it breaks down the fourth wall between the filmmaker and the social actors. In this form the filmmaker engages directly with his/her subject in front of the camera, he/she becomes part of the film and in a sense morphs into a social actor. This mode stands out from the rest because while other modes have a distinct separation between filmmaker and social actors, Participatory strives on the interaction between the two on camera.

An example of participatory mode is Photographic Memory by Ross McElwee. This film revolves around McElwee, his teenage son Adrian, and their strained relationship. McElwee uses clips from old films of his son, some clips his son has made, some old photos he took during his first trip to France, and present day clips of their conversations. Also in this film, while trying to understand his son better, McElwee visits a french town he once stayed in when he was Adrian’s age. The whole film McElwee is the main social actor there are an abundant amount of shots of his attempts at communicating with his son, or talking with French pedestrians.

Another example of participatory mode is Kurt & Courtney is a documentary filmed by Nick Broomfield. In this documentary Broomfield takes a look at one of the most infamous death in rock and brings a new perspective on the death of Kurt Cobain through his investigation on those closest to Cobain. Broomfield interviews friends, family and lovers of Cobain and his widow, Courtney Love, he even interviews the private investigator on Cobain’s case. Broomfield integrates himself well into his film as a interviewer/social actor.

Both participatory and reflexive modes have a very unique quality that make them stand out from the other modes of documentation. This quality is that both of these modes break down some kind of wall that exists in other forms of film. These forms not only show the audience a critical look at the social world but a critical look at the documentary world as well.