The participatory mode as Nichols describes it is where the “filmmaker interacts with his or her social actors and participates in shaping what happens before the camera” (Nichols 151). This mode became popular around 1960 when new technology allowed for sync sound recording. An example of this type of documentary found most prevalent is the use of interviews and asking the subjects questions. The person filming is talking directly with the subject. The filmmaker interacts with, rather than observes, the subjects. For example, in Nannook of the North, Flaherity did not interact with the subjects at all. In the documentary Photographic Memory though, the filmmaker interacts with his son the whole time. Interaction in these films shifts from between the filmmaker and subject to viewer and material. Participatory mode is often described as the style that holds the most truth because it allows for observation and engagement. This allows the viewer to experience what it might be like for the filmmaker in a given situation and how the situation alters as a result (Nichols 182). Some other examples of this mode are often found in radio. Radio allows for interaction among people and allows the viewer to imagine what the situation looks like. The study of anthropology is common in participatory documentaries because the filmmaker can both interact by living among the people but also observe and study. The viewer watches how the filmmaker and subjects interact with each other. Participatory documentaries can involve ethics and politics like in Chronicle of a Summer. In this film, the camera engages how people react. The filmmaker puts subjects on the spot, asking “are you happy?” This is a great example of how the social actor changes when the filmmaker is involved and there is a camera in someone’s face. This mode is very interesting, engaging the audience, and very popular in documentary filmmaking.

Nichols describes the reflexive documentary mode as it “calls attention to the conventions of documentary filmmaking and sometimes of methodologies such as fieldwork or interview” (Nichole 151). This mode points out the methods involved in the filmmaking process within the actual film. This action calls formal vs. political attention to the filmmaking process. For example, in the film about the Vietnamese women, the audience gains awareness for a deeper level of thinking. The audience questions the form, content and thought of the filmmaker and how he is applying the process to the film itself. We may winder what it is like to live in this culture. This mode is also expressed in Stranger with a Camera because the audience considers the quality of the documentary itself, the processes. The filmmaker does this by shooting footage of footage being taken. The goal in this case is to aid the audience in their understanding of the process of construction in the film so that they can develop a sophisticated and critical attitude. The filmmaker uses this mode to capture authentic truth. In the Vietnamese woman culture film, the filmmaker seeks to catch the perspective from the cultures viewpoint. The audience feels very in touch and sympathetic to these people, even though we do not know them. This is also how viewers construct knowledge of parts of the world that we have not seen. Nichols describes two techniques used in this filmmaking mode, political and formal strategy. Formal strategy seeks to make the familiar strange and reminds the audience that how documentary works to persuade peoples ideas about the world, so that they represent the filmmakers views (Nichols 199). Political strategy reminds us how society works in accord with situations we find familiar that are often taken for granted (Nichols 199). The reflexive mode of documentary promotes truth and calls the viewers attention to the filmmaking process.

Reflexive and participatory modes of documentary both seek to heighten awareness from the viewers’ perspective so that they can gain appreciation to the filmmaking process. They are very similar modes and can often be confused. I think that most documentaries striving to use this style end up using qualities from both modes. Both exploit the filmmaking process so that audience can gain knowledge about subjects and work put into making the film. Films like this are usually successful, in my opinion, because the audience becomes so engaged and appreciates the work put into the film.