The Codes and Conventions of Filming and Editing Interviews

By Jack Ward

Cut-Away

• Cut-away are used to break up interviews, illustrate and avoid jump cuts when questions are edited out.

For example, this cut away of the ocean when someone is being interviews about the film ‘Jaws’

Cut away are always used in documentaries. It helps the audience understand the topic more.

Music

• Music is always used in documentaries. This is to set the mood, make people feel a certain way, or illustrate what someone is talking about. For example, in a Madonna documentary, they would play a lot of her music so that the audience knows what sort of music Madonna makes and what Madonna sounds like.

Graphics

• Graphics are used in documentaries so that it can inform the audience who a person in, where a location is etcetera. An example of this is shown in the image below.

Mise-En-Scene

• The word mise-en-scene is a French word which translates to ‘in front of’ meaning, in front of the camera. The mise-en-scene is whatever is in front of the camera. It must be appropriate to the topic of the documentary and must better the audiences understanding towards the theme of the documentary.

Various Camera Shots & Angles

• In a documentary (especially in a documentary aimed at younger people) the audience can get bored very easily and the camera shots and angles can prevent this from happening. It makes the documentary more exciting and enjoyable to watch.

Archived Footage

• Documentaries use archived footage a lot to give the audience more information and more depth into the topic they’re watching about. For example, a football documentary would used archived footage of old games to show how the game has developed.