1) A convention of interviews is using a mid or medium close up shot of the interviewee at eye level with the camera so the audience can see them and some of the background. The background should be relevant to the subject or documentary. 2) Another convention is using the "rule of thirds" where the interviewee is positioned just off center and looking at the interviewer rather than the camera, giving them space to speak. 3) Conventions of editing include removing the interviewer's questions so it seems the interviewee is speaking freely, and using cutaways and archive footage to cover jump cuts.

1. Codes and Conventions
of Interviews

2. Cinematography
One convention of an interview is the shot which is used, normally during
interviews either a mid or a medium close up is used. This is so that the
interviewee is at eye level with the camera and so that the audience can still see
some of the background. For example this image shows a mid shot of the
interviewee, showing the background. This also means that another convention is
that the background has to be relevant to either the subject or the documentary
itself. In this shot the background is some posters of the film the Jaws which is
relevant as the documentary is about Jaws.
Another cinematography convention is that rule of thirds are used. This is
when the interviewee is positioned just off centre and looking at the
interviewer instead of the camera. By using the rule of thirds it means that
the interviewee has space to talk into. This image of the left shows that the
interviewee is at eye level and is using the rule of thirds which is a
convention.

3. Editing
One main conventions of interviews is that the questions that are asked by the interviewer are
edited out after filming. This is so that it looks like the interviewee is talking freely about the
subject of the documentary and not like they are being prompt by question. Another
convention is that cutaways and archive footage are used to cover jump cuts in the editing
process. These cutaways and archive material has to be relevant to the to type of documentary.
For example, this printscreen for the documentary ‘Simpsons 20th Anniversary’ shows the band
that play the theme song of The Simpsons doing a concert.

4. Mise-en-Scene
One of the main convention of the mise-en-scene in interviews is that
the background in an interview has to be relevant to either the
subject or the topic that the documentary is about. For example in
this screenshot it shows that they are interviewing the creator of
Family Guy, and to make sure that the background is relevant they
have put posters of Family Guy in the back to conform to this
convention.
Depending on the content of the documentary either high key or low key lighting is used, for example if
there was a documentary on fears then they would used low key lighting as this would work well with the
themes. However, in both these documentary for example the ‘In the teeth of Jaws’ and ‘Simpsons 20th
Anniversary’ they both use high key lighting as this goes with there theme. Another convention, is that
when the interviewee is being interviewed they are sat down in a chair, this is so that they look more
relaxed and it is easier to get a steady and clear shot of the interviewee.

5. Graphics
One of the conventions of graphics in interviews
is that when the person who is being
interviewed shows up the name and role/ job is
also shown. This is only shown once when the
interviewee is first seen on screen. The
conventions of having these graphics is that they
the name of the interviewee is in a larger font
than the role of the occupant. This is due to the
fact that the name is more important and
relevant to the audience. The font of these
names also has to be relevant, for example this
printscreen of the Simpsons 20th Anniversary
shows the font is the same to the Simpsons
titles.