Codes and Conventionsof a Documentary

Interviews

Interviews are used to gain a specific opinion and facts from someone, this gives examples of a public or recognised figures views on a particular subject

They can be conducted anywhere, the location will usually relate to the subject and sometimes the interviewee will interact with the surroundings as visual aid to support his/her argument

These make the audience feel that the facts and opinions given are that of real people rather than the press

Archive Still and Film

Archive footage and images are used to effectively illustrate a point or provide a visual stimulation to the audience to back up a point. They can also be a window to the past and will often set a scene or give the viewer something for the mind to develop on.

Archive footage from ‘The Supernatural Archive’

This gives the audience a clear representation of what is being spoken about

Voiceovers

Voice overs are spoken word over a video, a ‘Voice of god’ Style. E.g David Attenborough. Almost every documentary has a voiceover. Spoken word is the main part of a documentary and all the video and footage is purely to

illustrate. The audience will feel more informed being able to hear all the information over the visuals

Voice-of-god

Studio

Morgan Freeman

Spoken Word

This is said in either voiceover form or directly to the camera.

A presenter will read off a teleprompter or be inventing based on what happens at the given time within the shot.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKS9SBxFPaE

Evidentiary Editing

Editing that is obvious is called evidentiary editing. This editing is done professionally and makes a documentary more interesting by having different styles of cutting, fading, sound and shot change.

Music

The music in a documentary is very important because it will decide the mood. A scary documentary must have scary music in order to achieve the right atmosphere. The genre of the footage needs to relate with the genre of the music

Addressing The Viewer

A presenter will talk to the viewer, this makes it more informal and interesting and each individual viewer will interpret the speech differently.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKS9SBxFPa

Illustrative Graphic and Animation

Animation and illustrations are used to provide another form of visual aid to the viewer these could be showing a rise in house prices or in educational documentary's showing an in depth animation of (e.g a geographical representation)

Dramatic Reconstruction

Reconstructions are made to give the audience a visual representation of a story being told. E.g a story of a man falling down stairs will be accompanied by a video remake of the accident. These are used in programs that include interviews or people giving their account on some event that happened.

Expository Documentary

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKS9SBxFPaThis documentary contains all the codes

and conventions to creating a successful documentary (as previously explained)

David Attenborough’s life in cold blood^

Makes obvious relations between the filmmaker and subject of the documentary. Filming takes place using interviews or other ways of involving people or objects. Often twinned with archive footage to look at issues from the past or a current issue e.g Supersize Me, this factual program involves a man going on a supersize only McDonald's binge for 3 months to see what it can do to your body. It provided the viewer with a real life account/ video diary of what the binge can do to an ordinary healthy man. This kind of documentary can deep seat the information in the viewers mind, they are more likely to remember the information if they felt like a part of the production.

Interactive Documentary

Reflexive Documentary

This style takes attention to the codes and conventions of documentary making . It Increases our awareness of the of the film's representation of reality because of the way facts are given in the production. For example: Aileen is a true story about a serial killer who for years argued her case with various state courts and after receiving multiple death sentences she gave up. Towards the end of the film you start to feel sorry for her. It is a clever way of giving information to the audience. Reflexive documentarys almost have a clue in the title to what they really are- Flex- It’s a version of the truth, Its been warped (flexed) slightly based on multiple accounts of the story.

Performative Documentary

An entertaining form of documentary, more of a factual show that has a high level of involvement from the presenter and an entertaining use of shots, locations, spoken word and voiceovers to keep the audience entertained but still providing valuable information to the viewer. This style of documentary is more commonly watched by a younger audience, These factual programmes include bowling for columbine, Top gear and The gadget show. Notions of objectivity are replaced by "evocation and affect"

Observational Documentary

This kind of factual program is a more ‘Fly on the wall’ style. It is to give the viewer a real life experience as if they were at the scene without being noticed. It is to capture reality from a neutral point of view. An example of this style would be Richard Pennebacker's Don't Look Back (1967) it records Bob Dylan's 1965 tour of Britain