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What Is A Documentary?
How I have conformed to the codes and conventions of documentaries in my main production and ancillary products ...
Graphics:
Two lines in a simple font so not to distract the audience from the main image/moving image. Used on screen to inform the audience of the interviewee's name and their relation to the subject matter
Archive Footage:
This is specifically used to show aspects of the subject/topic being explored but on a much wider scale. Most commonly used throughout interviews and at the beginning of a documentary
Sound: Both diegetic and non-diegetic sound are used in documentaries to represent emotion/to set a mood.
- Diegetic: This is any sound presented as originating from inside the film world seen on or off screen. For example voices of characters or sound made by objects in the scene.
Diegetic:
Again, I conformed to the conventions of documentary by using diegetic sounds for the interviews where the characters voices are heard with no non-diegetic sound sources. I felt it was important to use this to create a sense of realism and to hear more information about the topic
Mise-en-scene:
The use of mise-en-scene must be kept consistent throughout the whole documentary, it can be portrayed through interviews, archive footage, voice overs and camerawork.
Interviews:
The key element of documentaries is the use of an interview with professionals or case study individuals
Editing:
Documentaries include a lot of cuts due to the variation in scenery and shot type e.g. interviews and archive footage
Conventional editing answers questions that have not been formally asked so the structure of the shots is edited in such a way that this can be shown.
Narration:
A narrator is important to hold the narrative together as it is used to move the narrative along and to push ideologies on the topic along.
The tone of voice, accent and vocabulary of the narrator is all dependent on the target audience
