This document outlines several conventions of documentaries and short films that the filmmakers intend to follow or break for their project. It will follow conventions like using a hand-held camera, voiceovers, talking heads, and real people to interview. However, it wants to break the convention of niche audiences for short films and instead aim to raise awareness among a mass market audience. The documentary is being designed for Channel 4, so it will aim to target opinion leaders and support left-wing ideologies in line with typical Channel 4 documentaries.

1. Conventions of a documentary
and Conventions of a Short Film
Which do we intend to follow/break?

2. •CONVENTIONS OF A
DOCUMENTARY

3. Conventions
1. Hand-held camera
• This is used to make the
documentary more realistic, and
also due to the excess of action in
documentaries, hand-held makes
it easier to follow.
• WE INTEND TO FOLLOW THESE
CONVENTION.
2. Voiceovers
“Voice of authority”
- This comes from
a narrator who
signifies the
point of the
documentary.
- When the narrator
is present and talks
to the audience.
“Voice of God”
- This narration
comes from
someone we
cannot see.
- Where you can
hear the
narrators voice
throughout,
but never see
them.
An example is here
in “The Virtual
Revolution”, where
the narrator is
present and talks to
the audience.
An example of the
voice of God is in,
“March of the
Penguins” – the
narrator is not
viewable to the
audience but we can
hear him throughout.

4. 3. TALKING HEADS.
• It is conventional to have members of the public filmed at medium close up. They
would be filmed about something that relates to the topic.
• WE INTEND TO FOLLOW THIS CONVENTION:
• We could interview members of the public in our local city centre, asking them
questions such as;
• Do you have web 2.0? Have you ever been affected by cyber bullying or know of
those who have been victims of it? What would you do if you were targeted?
• Here are screen shots from a documentary on eating disorders. They filmed each
girls response when asking, “would you put a photo up on Facebook if you looked
fat?” Every response, was no.

5. 4. Artificial Footage and Photographs
• Archival materials include:
- old photographs
- newsreel footage
- shots from fiction films
An effective popular method is using stills photographs.
- WE INTEND TO FOLLOW THIS CONVENTION.

6. 5. Real People
• For the most part, the people we see in a documentary are real people. This helps
to reinforce the topic of the documentary but presenting true examples, in our
case, victims of cyber bullying.
WE INTEND TO FOLLOW THIS CONVENTION.
• We plan to contact B-eatbullying.co.uk to see if we can get contact with someone
willing to share their story.
Past students who filmed a video on an eating
disorders, built a relationship with beat bullying
and were granted permission for copyright. To the
left, is Maddy, a girl who shared her story of her
eating disorder making the documentary more
moving and effective.

7. 6. 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 INTEND TO FOLLOW THIS CONVENTION:
• We could interview people that victims of cyber bullying make go to for
help, and also victims of cyber bullying themselves as they are
experienced and understanding.

8. 7. Expository Convention
• - Voiceover address the audience directly and
is the dominant convention.
• - the voiceover may be either a ‘voice of God’
commentator (heard but not seen) or the
‘voice of authority’ (seen and heard usually an
expert in the relevant field.
• WE INTEND TO USE THE ‘VOICE OF GOD’.

9. More expository conventions
• Images are used to illustrate (or sometimes counterpoint)
the voiceover.
• Direct relationships between voiceover and images are
shown.
• Editing is used for continuity, to link together images
supporting the argument put forward in the voiceover.
• A variety of footage is also used to support the argument.
• There is an attempt to persuade the audience of a
particular point of view often by appealing to logic and the
idea of a common-sense response.
• Events are organised to provide the viewer with the
solution to a puzzle.

10. •CONVENTIONS OF A
SHORT FILM

11. 1. Todorov’s equilibrium theory
• Todorov’s equilibrium theory is typically
applied to shorts films:
• - Equilibrium = EVERYTHING IS NORMAL.
• - Disequilibrium = A PROBLEM OCCURS.
• - New Equilibrium = EVERYTHING IS SOLVED,
HOWEVER SOMETHING HAS CHANGED.
• WE INTEND TO FOLLOW THIS CONVENTION.

12. 2. Length
• Short films are typically “short.” Usually they
are limited to a maximum of 35 minutes,
however often they last around 5-10 minutes
long. If the production lasted longer than 35
minutes, it would be called a ‘feature length.’
• WE INTEND TO FOLLOW THIS CONVENTION.

13. Characters
• Short films tend to stick to 2 or 3 characters
due to the short time space, the production
never has the time to create a back story, so
the character numbers are kept low to allow
the audience to relate to them in a short
amount of time.
• WE INTEND TO FOLLOW THIS CONVENTION.

14. 4. Niche audiences
• Short films have a lot smaller and niche audience than
feature length due to the creative nature, length and
simple storyline.
• Although they are accessible, many are not aware of
short film. This is largely due to popularity decreasing
through the 1930′s onwards, and the limited access in
mainstream forms such as cinema.
• Short film also varies in genre and style and will appeal
to a much more specific audience.
• WE DO NOT INTEND TO FOLLOW THIS CONVENTION AS
WE WISH FOR OUR TOPIC TO BE MADE AWARE TO A
MASS MARKET AUDIENCE.

15. Institutions
• Our Documentary is designed for Channel 4, so WHAT ARE
THE CONVENTIONS OF A CHANNEL 4 DOCUMENTARY?

16. Conventions of a channel 4
documentary?
• Target opinion leaders.
• Support left wing ideologies – e.g. tends to
criticise the Establishment.
• Involve resolution, “HELP AND SUPPORT”
• ‘Fly on the wall’ and ‘observational’ style.
• Tend to deal with taboo topics.
• Tend to use presenters.
• Like to expose, and shock audience.
• Also use talking heads.