DOCUMENTARY CONVENTIONS

Documentary Theorists John Grierson is a Scottish documentary maker. He quoted that:

“documentaries are the creative treatment of actuality” and they are portrayed as: “the real”. His theory relates to how audiences are manipulated to agree/disagree with a certain view point of which the documentary is trying to put across.

Bill Nichols is an American film critic. He developed the “6 documentary modes”. He is also known for his pioneering work and study to the documentary film.

“Every documentary is a film” – Bill Nichols

Bill Nichols John Grierson

The Six Modes of Documentary The Poetic Mode

“A transformation of historical material into a more abstract, lyrical form.”

Expository Mode“Includes 'direct address', social issues assembled into an argumentative frame, talked through the voiceover narration”

Observational Mode“Documents life in a less intrusive manner, there is less control required over lighting (natural lighting) which is dominantly used in documentaries for realism.”

Participatory (interactive) Mode“The film-maker interacts with the documentary and is involved, as the film-maker actively engages with the situation they are documenting, asking questions of their subjects, sharing experiences with them. Heavily reliant on the honesty of witnesses”

Reflexive Mode“Demonstrates consciousness of the process of reading documentary, and engages actively with the issues of realism and representation, acknowledging the presence of the viewer and the modality judgements they arrive at.”

Performative Mode“Acknowledges the emotional and subjective aspects of documentary, and presents ideas as part of a context, having different meanings for different people, often autobiographical in nature”

Our Documentary Mode

The ‘PARTICIPATORY’ mode conventions are the ones that are mostly used in our documentary. These are:

Crew/documentary makers present in the film Non-diegetic voiceover – documentary makers voices A range of interviews shown in the documentary Use of archive material – taken from YouTube and other sites

(images and video footage) Location shooting with handheld cameras A range of editing techniques, shots, long takes and cuts Synchronous sound both non-diegetic and diegetic

Archive Footage/Images

•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfJqg15oRTo&feature=related

- MANCHESTER RIOT SHOCKING FOOTAGE YOUTH SETS FIRE TO MISS SELFRIDGE STORE CAUGHT ON•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to80sWGiofM&feature=related

- Manchester looters caught on camera•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXegiHGPqf4&feature=relmfu

- 'We will be coming for you' warn Manchester Police•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VebdFIAVT_4&feature=relmfu

- PM: 'We will end UK riots by any means necessary'•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hIcvga-bZY Riot Night - England Riots 2011 Documentary •http://www.youtube.com/user/Cartier?v=nNhArtcwVkk&feature=pyv&ad=15812695308&kw=songs – music for opening scene •http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qEjDjtujaQ - opening scene ideas

We will be using some archive material in our documentary, as it is a typical documentary convention to create a sense of realism and get a certain point of view across.

Interviews

This is an interview which I filmed when I was in Manchester City Centre. The interview is shot outside Miss Selfridge, the shop that was set on fire during the riots. In the medium shot it is clear that this happened due to the shop still being bordered. The interview gets a certain point across and is a technique used to manipulate the audience to have a view point.

Location Shooting - Manchester

These images which are shots from our documentary, establish the location (Manchester) and it’s main attractions. Location shooting is essential in documentary making, as it informs the viewers that we’re focusing on the riots specifically in Manchester.

The frequent medium long shots used to show these attractions, show the conditions of Manchester well and also dominates the frame which portrays the size of the city.