Conventions of TV Documentaries.

Tiara Morris This project is to assure that we know the expectations and conventions. From this research , I will see if I am using developing or challenging the conventions of a documentary based on my idea.

What is a Documentary • 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.)

Conventions of Documentaries Convention What is it/ Why its

used? Image Example and

effectiveness. Archival Footage and Photographs

These include ‘old’ images , newsreel footage and possibly shots from fiction films.

Talking head“interviewees’

These people are usually in their own environment- occupational/home or sometimes on the road. This is used for people views and interpretations on different ideas.

Jiggly Camera Form of re-inforcing documentary reality.

Voice over narration Usually occurs to explain a image or whats going on in the scene

Re enactments Stages real event that has already happened. Most of the time it uses actors and not the original characters.

Film