poo

2. The documentary genre…
0 The official definition of a documentary is using pictures or
interviews with people involved in real events to provide a
factual report on a particular subject. A documentary film is a
nonfictional motion picture intended to document some aspect
of reality, presenting some form of information regarding a
particular topic, which serves to educate, entertain, or inform the
audience. Originally, documentaries were shot on film stock, but
now we film using video and digital productions that can be
released to cinemas, made into TV shows and direct-to-video.
"Documentary" has been described as a "filmmaking practice, a
cinematic tradition, and mode of audience reception" that is
continually evolving and is without clear boundaries.[2]

3. Codes and conventions and
their purpose…
0 A hand held Camera - which encodes realism
0 Narrative Voice Over - leading the audience into a preferred reading
0 Vox Pops and Interviews with experts / witnesses / participants
0 Often a shorter running time than non-fiction feature films
0 Intercutting / Parallel Editing linking key scenes
0 Use of Archive footage to support filmed scenes
0 Surveillance (information) decoded by audience (e.g. about McDonalds in Supersize Me)
0 Mediated culture – documentaries select and construct, thus encoding opinion and subjectivity
0 Selective editing crucial to constructing meaning
0 Often point of view with encoded ideology, preferred meaning
0 Use of Establishing Shot and Close Up
0 Observational, Interactive, Reflexive, Expository in format
0 Often single stranded, linear – one subject is often the topic
0 Exploration of narrative themes, messages and values
0 Different purposes – to entertain, inform, educate, satirise, shock, satisfy, provide voyeuristic
pleasure and for propaganda purposes (see Triumph of the Will and Crown Film Unit
documentaries – Fires Were Started, Britain Can Take It)
0 Characters are often hyper real, exaggerated stereotypes e.g. Charlton...

4. How we are going to apply
this to our documentary…
0 Our main intention for our documentary is to make it
highly informative, integrating interesting facts and
statistics and music to provide entertainment at the
same time for the audience. Our target audience is
young adults, typically students, and so we must
ensure that our documentary is not mainly focusing
on informing the audience as this would bore the
typical student. We intend to keep the audience
interested whilst teaching them about the advantages
and disadvantages of body modification in today’s
society.