The document discusses codes and conventions used in factual television programs such as documentaries and news. It defines factual programs and provides examples. It explains that factual programs aim to educate and inform audiences, but may also provide biased points of view. The document then discusses codes, which are systems of visual and audio symbols, and conventions, which are generally accepted ways of presenting information. It provides examples of codes and conventions used specifically in documentaries and news programs. Finally, it outlines different styles and formats of documentaries such as expository, observational, and poetic documentaries.

1. CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF
FACTUAL PROGRAMMES
By Chelsie Brandrick

2. What are Factual Programmes?
 The genre includes news, documentary, educational,
magazine, discussion, review, chat show, special
interest (hobby, makeover, and how-to formats),
‘reality’ TV and other sub-genres.
 Examples of factual programmes are News, Bargain
Hunt, Graham Norton, Loose Women and Big Brother.

3. Positive Values of Factual Programmes
 Educate
 Inform
 Create Empathy
 Encourage social/political change
 Accurate, balanced and neutral material

4. Negative Values of Factual Programmes
 Offer a biased point of view
 No impact on society due to a niche
audience

5. Two Examples of Factual
Programmes in More Detail
 News: Facts and statistics and contract with
the viewer.
 Documentary: Earliest form of cinema,
feature important information on a vast
range of topics.

6. What Are Codes?
 Systems of signs, consist of agreed rules and can be
divided into Technical, Symbolic and Written and Audio.
 Technical codes are: camera techniques, framing,
layout, lighting, editing and sound.
 Symbolic codes are: Objects, setting, body language,
clothing, colour.
 Written and Audio codes are: Headlines, captions,
speech bubbles and language style.

7. Codes in News & Documentaries
News Documentaries
Studio News Readers Film
Field Reporters Script
Links to the Studio Music
Mode of address to viewer Costumes
Interviewing Camera Angles
Experts and Witnesses Lighting
Report structure Interviewing
Actuality Footage Experts and Witnesses

8. What Are Conventions?
 Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing
something.
 It is the way that the codes are used (which is known as
conventions) that helps the audience understand which
roles each character is playing in the story.
 The way directors use these tools can encourage us to
like or dislike a character and help us to understand
how important each character is in the story.

9. Conventions in News &
Documentaries
News Documentaries
Broadcasts from outside the studio Archive Footage
Newscasters smartly dressed Presenter
Graphics Bulletin Voice-Over
Narrative Structure Graphics/Text
Theme Tune Single strand narrative
Multi Camera Set Up Real people
Camera Shots Re-enactments

10. Documentary Formats
 Expository
 Observational
 Interactive
 Reflexive
 Performativity
 Poetic

11. Expository
 A commentator talking over the images or videos shown to
explain the story, speaking directly to the audience
 Graphics & animations
 Rhetorical questions
 Editing is used for continuity
 Include factual information and figures; a variety of footage,
interviews, stills, archive material to support the argument of
the documentary.
 Persuasive techniques
 Legal and ethical considerations

12. Observational
 Filmed on Location
 Equipment is usually informal like hand held cameras
 Long takes dominate.
 Synchronous sound recording
 No interviews
 Crew are neutral observers
 No rehearsals or staged events

13. Interactive
 Filmmaker is sometimes visible to the audience.
 Interviews dominate
 Use of archive materials
 Location shooting
 Long takes dominate
 Synchronous sound recording
 Voice-Over

14. Reflective
 Borrows techniques from fiction films for an emotional
response.
 Emphasise on the expressive nature of film, anti-realist
techniques
 Voiceover is questioning and uncertain – rather than
authoritative
 Reliance on suggestion rather than fact
 Crew and equipment are clearly seen – filming process is
not hidden.

15. Performative
 Documentary maker (and crew) interact with subject
 An investigation or search which there may be no satisfactory
conclusion
 Addresses the audience in an emotional and direct way
 Documentary maker comments on the process of making the
documentary
 Subject matter often about identity (gender, sexuality, ethnic
minorities) rather than factual subjects
 Subjective views of the film maker
 Hypothetical re-enactments.

16. Poetic
 Filmmaker gives subjective view
 Not in typical narrative structure
 Particular mood/tone is created - enhanced by music
 Some light rhetoric but not always
 Events are under-developed and situations can be left
unsolved
 Unrelated shots edited together - linked by a mood/music
 Perceived as Avant-garde - innovative, experimental and
pushes boundaries

17. Realism
 Include an interest in the real world and show real footage.
 They are based on real life people and their lives, and show
what their lives or the people themselves are like.
 Go into detail of the subject’s experiences using re-
enactments of events to show this.
 They may include handheld camera, interviews with people
involved in the topic/accident, statistics and graphs to
support the facts. They may also show the setting up of the
equipment and camera's before the filming takes place.
 Observational, reflexive, interactive and poetic
documentaries use realism conventions.

18. Dramatisation
 These documentaries are also known as
‘Docudramas’
 They include cliff hangers, voice overs,
music and computer generated imagery
(CGI).
 Expository, interactive, performative and
poetic documentaries all use dramatization
conventions.

19. Narrative
 Communicate factual events/experiences in a narrative
form to gain a greater understanding.
 Expositional approach that details with events but keeps
the narrative in mind.
 Interactive, performative and poetic documentaries use
narrative conventions.

20. How documentaries use conventions to advise
or determine audience responses.
 The Verbal Conventions: Persuasive voice-overs,
compelling language, particular type of interviewees
and music or sound effects.
 The visual conventions: Presenter or interviewees
external appearance, location, body language, camera
work and editing.
 The documentary conventions: Documentary style may
affect how the audience thinks about the people
portrayed in the documentary if they are shown in a
particular way.

21. Codes and conventions and how I will
use them in my documentary
Codes: Expository, Interactive &
Poetic.
Conventions: Realism &
Narrativisation.