1. CODES &
CONVENTIONS OF
DOCUMENTARIES
CONVENTION – ‘THE GENERALLY ACCEPTED
WAYS OF DOING SOMETHING.’
CODES – ‘SYSTEMS OF SIGNS WHICH CREATE
MEANING. CODES CAN BE DIVIDED INTO TWO
CATEGORIES – TECHNICAL AND SYMBOLIC.’

2. VOICE OVER
• Voice overs are unseen commentators who explain the
narrative or tell a story throughout a documentary. Voice
overs will usually be authoritative; this encourages the
audience into believing that they have a specialist
knowledge in the subject of the documentary, or like
documentary filmmakers Michael Moore and Nick
Broomfield, they have the ‘right’ opinions which people
should listen to.
• The presenter may often used particular language, such as
emotive, to guide the audience to think in a certain way.
Narrativise – ‘Present or interpret
(experience, events, etc.) in the form of a
narrative’

3. ‘REAL’ FOOTAGE OF EVENTS
• Documentaries are generally viewed as ‘non-fictional’ .
Many documentaries aim to convince the audience that
the footage within the documentary is real, original and
unaltered in any way.
• Documentaries may contain actuality footage. This means
that the recordings are from actual events and consist of
real people, rather than re-enactments with actors.
A great example of documentaries consisting of real footage
is the BBC London Riots documentary:
http://youtu.be/_qktOvVNXwc

4. TECHNICALITY OF REALISM
Documentaries often achieve realism through:
 ‘Natural’ lighting and sounds, often consisting of
non-diegetic sound and ambient sound.
 Camera movements and camera angles used. For
example, when re-enacting a panicked scene, a
handheld shot may be used to connote panic.

5. FILM LANGUAGE USED TO
SHAPE REALISM
Placing the audience within
the action:
 Location shooting
 Uneven, handheld camera
work
 Natural light
 Following the action
 Film maker’s visible
presence
 Synchronous sound
recording
 Interviews with witnesses
Amateur effect
Techniques that allow the
audience to be objective:
 Voice over
 Archive footage
 Expert testimonial
 Material shaped into a narrative
 Material structured into a
argument

6. ARCHIVE FOOTAGE/STILLS
• Archive footage, often referred to as ‘stock footage’ or
‘library footage’, is film or video footage which can be
used in other films. The footage may have been used in
other productions or may be an outtake from another
production.
• This type of footage is often inserted into documentaries
to aid authenticity, add further information which the
filmmaker may be unable to film themselves and support
filmed scenes. A good example of archive footage can be
found in Michael Moore’s ‘Bowling for Columbine’
documentary.
• Archive footage is commonly found in documentaries
which look at historical events; it allows the audience to
see what really happened.

7. INTERVIEWS
• Interviews are a common convention featured within
documentaries; it allows people being filmed to speak directly
about events, prompted by the questions asked by the film
maker. Many documentaries consist of interviews with witnesses
or participants of an event, ‘experts’, or people with a range of
opinions on the subject. Interviews are used to add a sense of
realism (that the film maker’s views are mutually shared with
another source) and can be used to authenticate the views which
are expressed within the documentary.
• Sometimes the interviewee may disagree with the message of
the documentary, however the film makers will usually disprove
them in some way.
• Interviews can often be used to create conflict between different
participants who have different views on a topic, adding to the
drama element of the documentary.
• Interviews may take place on screen, off-screen or on a different
set completely.

8. OBSERVATION
• Many documentaries include observation. When creating
an observation, they will usually pretend that the camera
is unseen; this puts the audience as an eye-witness.
• Observations will often be used as evidence in interviews,
however this has often been criticised for portraying
people as objects, rather than subjects.
DRAMATISATION
• Dramatisation is achieved through the observational
element. It is used to create a sense of conflict and build
up arguments throughout the documentary. The audience
will be made an eye-witness and they portray people and
events based upon fact.

9. USE OF TEXT/TITLES
• Text and titles are added during the editing stage of
production and are a cheap way of conveying information
towards an audience. They often consist of dates and
labels, (such as names of people and places) and tend to
be believed unquestionably.

10. SOUND
• Sound is added to documentaries for many different
reasons, such as to create realism, add emotion or to add
emphasis on a topic being discussed.
• Sound is often used as a bridge between an interviewee
and a filmed scene to help illustrate to the audience what
is being said.
• The sound is also often non-diegetic. For example, in a
BBC Wildlife program, they tend to use a quiet, yet
dramatic music when showing spectacular landscape
footage.
• In Michael Moore’s Supersize me, the use of non-diegetic
childish music has been added to undermine the company
McDonald’s.

11. SET UPS
• A set up may be a reconstruction of events which
happened in the past, or the ‘setting up’ of a typical scene.
• For example, if a filmmaker wanted to convey a classroom
with a lesson taking place, they may ask for a group of
students to sit at a table with their hands up, as if a
teacher has just asked a question. This method is not
‘true’, however it is a cheap and quick way for filmmakers
to obtain footage which they would have had to wait to
happen ‘naturally’.

12. MISE-EN-SCENE AND
VISUAL CODING
• Mise-en-scene – ‘the arrangement of scenery and stage
properties in a play.’
• Mise-en-scene is used within documentaries to allow film
makers to construct reality. Mise-en-scene is extremely
important for creating realism and must be relevant in
some way to the documentary.
• Visual coding consists of the use Mise-en-scene and
props. For example, if a filmmaker wanted to portray that
they were interviewing a police officer, they may dress
them in a police uniform and situate them in a police
station.

13. EXPOSITION
• Exposition – ‘a comprehensive description and
explanation of an idea or theory.’
• The exposition is the section of the documentary which
reveals what argument is being explored and the topic of
the documentary. to the audience. This may consist of
information about the setting or previous events which
lead up to the main plot of the documentary and is
achieved through description and commentary.
• Exposition can be made obvious, direct, indirect or
hidden.

14. NARRATIVE
CONVENTIONS
All documentaries follow narrative conventions – they are an
extremely important aspect to consider when producing a
documentary. Documentaries tend to have a definite beginning,
middle and end, as well as having a strong focus on conflict.
Beginning – The beginning of the documentary will introduce the
topic and the central question. It will go into some action footage or
quick internet conflicts.
Middle – The middle of the documentary will become more
complicated by examining the topic in more detail. This section of
the documentary will often use interviews to voice different
opinions. It will also offer a range of different arguments to create
complications.
End – At the end of the documentary complications will often be
resolved and a solution will be made.