2. CODES AND CONVENTIONS
OF A DOCUMENTARY
Voiceover – The voiceover will usually have a authoritative tone in some way, which encourages the audience to believe that
they have some kind of specialist knowledge or as Michael Moore and Nick Broomfield would say: “the right” opinions that
people should pay attention to.
Interviews – Used to authenticate the views that are expressed in the documentary. They will sometimes disagree with the
message of the documentary.
Text – Used to anchor images in time and place. Labels, dates etc. A quick and cheap way of conveying information.
“Real” footage of events – A convention of a documentary that all events that are presented are to be seen as “real” to the
audience.
Sound – What type of effect does the music of a documentary have? Its usually used as a bridge between the scenes that
create a sense of meaning.
Visual coding – Mise-en-scene and props. Do the people included in the documentary look like what they are meant to?
Archive footage/stills – Pre-existing footage that they use in the documentary which they use when they could not obtain their
own.
3. DOCUMENTARIES THAT I HAVE
WATCHED
Demi Lovato – Stay Strong
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5jJQNKMRvA
Reality TV
Educating Essex
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxK3_hihHis
Human
Behaviour
Medical
One Born Every Minute
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES0h3L0yPYQ
Crime
Tales of the Grim Sleeper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MspO5rC6Vps
4. ANOREXIA: A BOY IN A
GIRL'S WORLD
HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=VUHJOFE-JNA
This documentary is about a 17 year old boy called Charles who is going through his recovery of Anorexia. This documentary was
made to show that an illness such as anorexia doesn’t just effect one gender, it can happen to boys as well and it can effect them
in the same way.
Camerawork – Most of the camera work was hand-held as the camera man was mainly following Charles around, there were also
many close up shots of Charles. These different camera shots are what to expect when making a documentary in order to get the
right type of shots
Mise-en-scene – Everyone one who was evolved in the documentary wore very casual clothes like Charles does. But most of the
nurses wore a uniform or something smart. This shows the natural environment of a hospital; where the documentary was mainly
filmed
Editing – There are a lot of jump cuts included in the documentary and some cuts as well. This is to make the scenes in the
documentary move along swiftly and efficiently.
Sound – There is a mixture of non-digetic sounds and also some Ambient sounds. The non-digetic music was often used to create
a sense of tension or unawareness
