Codes and Conventions of Documentaries

Editing:

• A cut is most commonly used in documentaries because it does not distract from the story line
• Sometimes superimpositions are used to show the story leading on to an interview or another part of the single stranded storyline
• Editing should be subtle and unnoticable to the audience
• Editing techniques can be used on archive material
• Visuals or chromokey are often used during interviews to show what the interviewee is talking about
• Well paced interviews no longer than 1 or 2 minutes
• Can effect the reality of the situation and allow the audience to see an event in a different way to reality

Voiceover:

• Holds the narrative together and makes sense of the images on screen
• Will be authoritive, making the audience believe that they have specialist knowledge
• Often male voice, although female voicovers are becoming more common
• Well spoken voiceover with no accent
• A voiceover often occurs when an interviewee is speaking and the interviewee takes over the voicover for the duration of their interview
• Calm and clear delivery of the voiceover
• Standard english is used
• They must be of the relevant age and gender

Camerawork

• Depends very much on the type of documentry and can vary lots throughout one documentary
• Camera work is creative and varies for the type of documentary
• Conventional framing is used
• Rule of thirds used in interviews
• Interviewee is framed to the left or right of the screen during an interview
• Often the camera is static on a tripod
• Some documentaries use hand held shots to appear more realistic
• P.O.V shot sometimes used to position the audience in the action
• Establishing shots used to situate the documentary

Interviews:

• If there is more than one interview the positioning of the interviewees alternates
• Filmed in medium shot, medium close up and close up
• The filmmaker rarely speaks in interviews (Questions edited out)
• Mise en scene- background reinforces the content of the interview or is relevant to the interviewee, providing more information about them in terms of occupation or personal environment
• The interviewee looks at the interviewer, not directly at the camera
• Positioning of the interviewer is therefore important. If the interviewee is on the right of the frame, the interviewer is on the left of the camera.
• The interviewer should sit or stand as close to the camera as possible
• Framing follows the rule of thirds-eye line roughly a third of the way down the screen.
• Sometimes anonymous interviews are filmed in very dark lighting
• If the interview is not anonymous there are no bright lights behind the interviewee
• Cutaways are edited into the videos to break up interviews and illustrate what they're talking about and to avoid jump cuts where questions have been edited out
• Cutaways are either of archive material or a reinactment or another part of the documentary which has relevance.
• The interviewee should never be infront of a window or with the sun behind them
• Cutaways are filmed after the interview or they are archive material

Archive Material:

• The camera would move eg, pan, zoom when filming still archive material such as news paper cuttings or photographs
• Use a variety of relevant material to the documentary
• If chromokey is used it is often blurred out or sublte, so it does not distract from the interview
• Relevent music is used during archive material which does not interfear with the voiceover of the interviewee
• Use a variety of material
• Sound is often put with still arcive material, it is relevent but does not take away from the image

Graphics:

• Graphics anchor who someone is and their relevence to the documentary, eg their name, and title. Dr Wilson, Gemmas GP
• Can anchor a time frame
• Simple details usually 2 lines
• Cannot distract from the footage on screen
• Their name is slightly bigger than what their role is

Genre Analysis-Type of documentary

Types of documentaries

• Fully narrated/Expository: An off screen voiceover makes sense of the footage. They tell the audience the meaning of the images
• Fly on the wall/observation: The camera is tehre but it is unseen or ignored by the people within the documentary. It records real time events and allows viewers to come to their own conclusion about the documentary
• Mixed: A mixed documentary uses a combination of features advancing the argument. In a mixed documentary the narrator is usually infront of the camera.
• Self reflective: Subject of documentary talks directly to the camera
• Docudrama: re-inactment of the event as though it has happened/is happening. A fictional story uses techniques of a documentary to enforce realisation
• Docusoap: The programme follows the lives of individuals and the audience get to know the characters
• Gate Keeper: The selection and rejection of information by the editors

Narratives

• Open: Where no answers have been given and there is no conclusion, therefore the audience are left to make up their own mind about the documentary
• Closed: There is one definite outcome, so the ending has a ready made conclusion
• Single-stranded: The documentary follows one theme throughout the entire documentary
• Non-linear: There is no chronological order of information that is given out. Flashbacks are used
• Linear: Documentary is told in order with a beginning, a middle and an end
• Circle: A question is aked at the beginning and then it is revised or revisited at the end

Documentaries rely on a traditional narrative eg. A beginning, a middle, and an end. The most dramatic footage is used at the beginning of the documentary and the beginning of the documentary must pose a question. The middle often explores and examines the issue and it looks at peoples opinions, therefore the conflict at the beginning is strengthened. At the end of the documentary there is the exposition. The audience has no or very little doubt about the argument.

Three main types of documentaries

• Compilation film: made up of archive images
• Interview or talking heads: people talking
• Direct cinema: event recorded as it is happening

Current affairs:

• Mid-way between documentaries and the news,they address news and politics
• Journalist led programmes andd emphasis to points
• Looking at political scandals
• Based around a journalist report-arguing a case or proving it wrong
• Reporter may be infront of the screen or may have a voice over

Examples of current affairs:

• BBC two news night
• C4 dispatchers
• Tonight with Trevor McDonald

Reality:

• Where real events take place known as infotainment-this is a combination of entertainment and information
• Reality TV: an example of reality TV is police camera action, it is a mix of raw, authentic material with a seriousness of an information program. Cam corders, survailence and observation is used to be based around emergency programs which are based recently on ordinary people this allows the audience to find it appealing.