Documentary Codes &Conventions -

Voiceover

An unseen commentator who narrates and explains the current events and possible arguments as they happen throughout the documentary.

They often direct the target audience member directly to pull them into the action and make them feel more involved.

Most commonly found in the following -

- Mixed Docume

Interviews & Voxpops

Voxpops – a voxpop is a popular opinion put forward abouta topic using informal comments from members of thegeneral public. These clips are usually very short so mostdocumentaries are likely to feature more than one.

Interviews – Documentaries usually have an interview added into them with an expert who will either contradictthe argument the documentary follows or support it.

Types Of Footage

Archival Footage

Archival footage is real-life footage that is

usually found from online sources and it shows things such as

historical events, interviews and

important people talking about research.

Actuality Footage

Actuality footage is evidence of real life

events as they actually were performed

including the real people themselves not actors.

They are very important in a documentary as they are real life non-fiction

and document and investigate truthful information to their

audience.

Background Footage

Background footage is filmed by the documentary

director/maker to fill in any gaps within the

documentary but are still relevant to the specific

topic/argument.

Sound

• Sound is usually added to the documentary to make itmore interesting and to relate to the current topic or thearguments/events taking place. The sound can be addedpurposely, or in the form of background music to sendhidden messages to the reader through the lyrics makingthe song connect to the documentary.

• The aim of sound is also sometimes to emphasise and dramatise a situation for the audience to keep theirconcentration and interest.

Dramatisation & Exposition

- Dramatisation is one of the key features of a documentaryas it is the reconstruction of an event. This reconstructionbreaks down the documentary in order to help theaudience understand the event better and therefore helpthem to develop their own personal views and opinions. (Mainly used in Docudramas)

- Another important key feature of a documentary isexpostion; a comprehensive description and explanation of an idea or theory. It’s job is to introduce importantbackground informatin throughout the documentary to makeit more understanding and entertaining.

Visual Coding

• Visual coding is the part of the documentary thathighlights aspects such as the mise-en-scene that isincluded with in it e.g – clothing, props, background, location etc.

• Mise-en-scene plays a huge role on the audiencesopinions, for example someone who is dressedauthoritively in an office is more likely to be percieved as a professional than someone in a casual setting which makes the audience more inclined tobelieve/agree with the professional.