Conventions of documentaries
- 1. By Michelle Asafu-Adjaye CONVENTIONS OF DOCUMENTARIES
- 2. Conventions Voiceover: Hand-held camera: This is a commentary from This is used to make the the film maker, which is documentary more realistic and also spoken whilst filming because its easier and cheaper to follow the action with a hand-held camera. Two types of voiceovers E.G: in March of the “Voice of authority” “Voice of God” penguins we E.G In this A narrative Narration from a hear the documentary from a narrator voice we can’t see. narrators Origins of us we can see voice the narrator is who represents throughout present and the view of the but we never talks to the documentary. see him. audience
- 3. Archival footage: Interviews: These are old images or film These are often with experts who that show historical asked questions in relation to the events, which the filmmaker topic. It gives a sense of realism and cant film. E.G – In Michel makes the viewer assume that certain Moore’s bowling for points made are valid. columbine. Michael Moore uses archival footage of adverts advertising toy guns. In Michael Moore's ‘sicko’ he interviews a doctor in the UK to compare it to the us health care system. Talking Heads: These are another form if interviews Re-enactments: but include members of the public These are a reconstruction of an event filmed from the shoulders up. They that has previously occurred using are featured talking about things in actors based on information about the relation to the topic event. It gives the viewer a sense of In this episode of the realism. E.G On crime watch they show television documentary reconstructions of crimes that have click the narrator asks happened to get a response from the members of the public viewer. their opinions of touch screen gadgets
- 4. Visual coding: Use of text an titles: This links to the idea of mise-en-scene. This is a quick and cheap way of E.g. If a doctor was being interviewed conveying information. they’d have to wear clothing associated with being a doctor in order to make it obvious to the viewer that he/she is a doctor. In the World War Two Heroes documentary they put the names and professions of the participants. Exposition: Real footage: This occurs at the beginning of the As documentaries are seen as documentary and introduces the main non-fiction, the information themes of the documentary. It creates presented has to be real. the viewers first impression. Filmmakers do this by selecting sections of the documentary that will catch the viewers attention.
- 5. Narrator addresses the audience directly with a “voice of god” narration. Images are linked The Expository mode together to support ideas put forward in the voiceover. as technology advanced by the 1960s and cameras became smaller and lighter, able to document life in a less intrusive manner, there The Observational Mode is less control required over lighting etc., leaving the social actors free to act and the filmmaker free to record without interacting with each other. the encounter between film-maker and subject is recorded, as the film-maker actively engages with the situation they are The Participatory Mode documenting, asking questions of their subjects, sharing experiences with them. Heavily reliant on the honesty of witnesses demonstrates consciousness of the process of reading documentary, and engages actively with the issues of realism and representation, The Reflexive Mode acknowledging the presence of the viewer and the modality judgements they arrive at. Corresponds to critical theory of the 1980s acknowledges the emotional and subjective aspects of documentary, and presents ideas The Performative Mode as part of a context, having different meanings for different people, often autobiographical in nature