Conventions: Music DocumentaryGianluca,

Olivia & Jake

Conventions: Voiceover• The voiceover addresses the audience directly.

• The voiceover that is heard in documentaries is normally authoritative and it will engage the audience making them believe that they have specialist knowledge of the events that occur within the documentary.

• When using a voice over, you always need images or footage to support your point.

We would like to include voiceover of the bands speaking. This dialogue will be over montage footage and/or photos/pictures that match what is being spoken about.

Expository:“Voice of God” Can be heard but not seen Voice of authority

Conventions: Realism• All events seen in a documentary must be seen as ‘real’ by

the audience, as documentaries are seen as non-fiction and therefore the events cannot be made up.

Surface Realism - also known as ‘getting the details right’ or ‘making it look real’. You can look at texts in terms of locations, or setting, or costumes and props, or even the right accent spoken by a character. It looks right, it sounds right so it must be right.

Inner & Emotional Realism - The audience ‘knows’ the character and identifies with him or her because the character behaves in a realistic way or says the right thing, or shows an identifiable response or emotion.

Conventions: Interviews• These are often with experts who are asked

questions in relation to the topic. It gives a sense of realism and makes the audience believe that the message delivered is more valid.

• We want to follow this common convention, by interviewing bands in their own environments or back stage where the scene would look appropriate to the people being interviewed.

Conventions: Montage• A montage sequence will show numerous specifically ordered shots

which will help convey ideas visually. Narrative montages which involve the planning of a sequence of shots that will be used to indicate changes in time and place within the documentary. It is common to see ideational montages in documentaries, this type of montage will link actions to words, the positioning of shots conveys different ideas to the viewer.

• Montages in documentaries are usually linked with words that different people within the documentary’s say. Finally montages allow for a visually presented progression of ideas on the screen.

• We intend on including montage footage of the surrounding areas which will have relevance to the bands that we interview. In some of the montages that we include we would like to integrate a voice over of the bands talking while some of the montages are viewed.

Conventions: Archival Footage• Archival footage is material you get from places like libraries

or archive in which you then use in your documentary to show historical events or to add detail without the need for extra filming. This aids authenticity and adds to information the film maker may not be able to obtain themselves.

Conventions: Sound

• Documentaries will usually have some sort of sound track to back it. It is always relevant and well fitting. The music will always have the correct sound level in order not to interfere with what is seen.

• Sound is used to create realism, emotion and an emphasis on what is being documented.

• A lot of diegetic sound is used, and during interviews microphones are used to capture what is being said.

• We expect to use microphones for our interviews. We want to also have an iconic soundtrack that can be heard throughout the documentary. In addition we want to add personal music from the bands when appropriate.

Conventions: Camera• Different camera angles are used within documentaries to

display and connote different things. A lot of camera pans and zooms in and out will be used during documentaries to add to the realism and engage with the viewer.

• We expect to use a range of different camera angles, shots and movement. We would like to include some handheld takes to add to the realism. We would use handheld takes when talking to the band in their common environments so that it gives the audience a feel for what the bands environment is like.

Conventions: Editing• A Lot of the editing with documentaries will be

straight cuts purely because this makes it more believable for the viewer. By using straight cuts it also means that the viewer won’t be distracted.

• We expect to shoot a lot of footage even if it isn’t needed, this will give us more variety when it comes to the editing stage. Extra footage when editing can help fill the gaps when a montage is needed.

Conventions: Narrativisation & Dramatisation

• Dramatisation is often seen in documentaries that are prejudice and bias. Dramatisation is the exaggeration that gets built up within a documentary. Dramatisation can sometimes be very bad in the way that its really strong towards a certain view but also the general narration and the documentary itself has become over exaggerated. Narrativisation is normally always seen or heard in a documentary. Narrative is an effective way of addressing to the audience and telling the story or in this case the documentary. Narrativisation can also drag on a bit so you have to be careful on how much your using depending on what type to documentary it is.

Documentary Styles

Expository:• A non-fiction film that emphasizes verbal

commentary and argumentative logic. An expository documentary has impact on the audience swaying their knowledge a side of the story. This is done on purpose by the makers of the documentary.

Observational:• Emphasizing the documentary filmmakers engagement in

observing the subjects daily life and circumstances and documenting them with an unobtrusive camera.

• By maintaining the observational mode, the director allowed the subject to forget the presence of the camera and behave more naturally, thereby letting the audience get a better sense of how the actors are really feeling.

• Observational documentary has also a big impact on the audience, the documentary makes a story along the way making the audience like certain characters and creating a bond with them. This is a great impact and it creates many thoughts towards the rest of the documentary.

Reflexive:

• The reflexive mode reflects the quality of documentary itself, de-mystifying its processes and considering its implications.

• The reflexive mode of documentary often functions as its own regulatory board, policing ethical and technical boundaries within documentary film itself.

• Reflexive Documentary has a slight impact on their viewers because its more of an observation and they are capturing true facts allowing the audience to learn from the documentary

Participatory:• Unlike the observational mode, the participatory mode

welcomes direct engagement between filmmaker and the subject.

• The filmmaker becomes part of the events being recorded.• The filmmakers impact on the events being recorded is

acknowledged, it is often celebrated.• Participatory Documentary is very big on the viewers

because it’s getting them involved with the documentary as well as getting the filmmaker involved as well.

Performative:• This mode of documentary highlights the subjective

nature of the documentarian as well as acknowledging the subjective reading of the audience. Notions of objectivity are replaced by "evocation and affect“. This mode also emphasises the emotional and social impact on the audience. A performative documentary is extremely effective on the audience. They are made purposely to emphasize the emotional and social sides of the audience. Bringing out there views therefore making the documentary a lot more interesting.

• In our music documentary we will be conforming to the common conventions. We want to show live footage from a bands gig/concert, and use relaxed interview footage of the bands, resulting in the audience having knowledge on the environment that they are in and what their attitudes are like. We want to integrate different styles in our documentary so it wont be classed as a specific style. We want to have some observational parts in the documentary and possibly some participatory parts also.

Conclusion: Music Documentary