Idiots Guide

- Observational Documentary:  Documenter follows the person to observe the events in their life. Equipment could be informal, usually no interviews and no voice overs. Long takes used. For example: MTV Cribs, 16 and Pregnant

- Reality TV: Television programmes in which real people are continuously filmed, designed to be entertaining rather than informative. Usually they have multiple fixed cameras. For example: Big Brother, Britain's Got Talent

- Docudrama: A dramatised television film based on real events. For example: Moonshiners, The Men Who Built America

- Wildlife Documentary: A natural history film or wildlife film is a documentary film about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures, usually concentrating on film taken in their natural habitat. For example: Frozen Planet, The Stalking Jaguar

- Docusoap (Real Life Soap Operas): A documentary following people in a particular occupation or location over a period of time. For Example: The Wedding Show, Driving School Police

- Fixed Rig Documentaries (Multiple fixed cameras at filming locations): Its a location covered in fixed cameras. For example: One Born Every Minute, 24 Hours In A&E

- Single Camera Documentary: They give someone one camera to film usually their life or a week in someones life. Usually a single camera is used for this type of documentary. For example: Katie, Peter Andre 

- Interactive: The audience interacts with the show by ringing in and engaging with the show directly. For example: Seven Days

- News reactive documentary: They try and put out a programme about something that has happened in the news. For example: Mandela

- Chat Show: Where they chat to guests about their lives or things in the news. This is usually studio based and they use fixed camera. For example: Jeremy Kyle, Jerry Springer

- News: They talk about current affairs in the world. Based in a studio with a fixed camera. The only time it isn't in a studio is when they are have a reporter in the field who is reporting on something like the weather or there is a news story in a certain town/ city they may be there on the scene. For example: Look North, Sky News