Codes and Conventions of television documentaries

What is a documentary?

• Documentaries focus on and question people and real life events by placing the audience in a position to create a point of view about what or who they are seeing.
• Documentaries produce factual information about the world, we can tell what we are watching is a documentary by the on-screen titles for the name of a person we are seeing on screen. This makes the audience believe what they are seeing is real and factual.
• A number of devices are used when presenting information E.g. Primary recording of events, Information shown through charts and maps and also the reconstruction of an event. E.g. Historical.
• So that the crew can stay mobile whilst filming to give a variety of shots, the documentary will only usually consist of one camera operator and a sound person.

Documentary Techniques

There are 3 types of documentary;

• Compilation film - made up of images
• Interview/"Talking heads" - testimonies are recorded about the event
• Direct cinema - event is recorded as a primary source/ when it happens

Documentaries use narrative form as they tell us a story, this usually shows different characters point of view/tension. The story can be planned or improvised, use a voice over with interviews or maybe just observe using found footage.

Modern documentaries are less scripted making today's seem more observational, therefore the audience is put in a more voyeuristic position. E.g. Big Brother, CCTV.

Also using parallelism, documentaries ask the audience to draw parallels between characters and situations. (Connect people together by editing them together.)

Narration

Documentaries sometimes use a narrator, this helps the audience receive information about the show and what it involves. The "voice of God" is the commonly used non-character narrator who is anonymous throughout.

However, many documentaries use an authoritative voice who we already know as a character or from previous series. This makes the audience trust the information they are taking in because of the familiar voice, predominantly voice-overs are male although recent documentaries aimed at younger audiences have introduced female voice-overs.

Lighting

Usually throughout a documentary the lighting is natural with minimal additional light, this helps the audience to realise that the footage hasn't been manipulated.

Camera work

The hand-held camera is the most commonly used camera as it allows the crew to stay mobile while filming. It also authenticates the shots and the shaky, less steady movements makes the footage real-life. This shot creates a subjective point of view which aims for an intimacy between the audience and the film.

Editing

This is a vital component of a documentary and there are several types of it;

• Fade out - image gradually darkens into black
• Fade in - image gradually lightens from black
• Dissolve - end of the shot is mixed with the beginning of the next
• Wipe - when the shot is replaced by another using a line which moves across the screen

Editing is a way of interpreting an event in an understable form. During this process material is selected, ordered and place in to a sequence and therefore is mediated. (Version of reality)

Sound

Documentaries rely on non-diegetic sound to prompt the audience to respond in a certain way. Documentaries help form a public opinion and with the growth of video more and more people can express their opinion. This genre shows the truth in a way which is flexible yet understood by audiences.