This document discusses how a student media product follows the codes and conventions of real documentaries. It uses a mixed format with interviews, cutaways, archive footage, and a narrator. Each section features a specific topic like healthy eating. Techniques like panning and zooming shots add visual interest. Interviews follow rules of thirds and display names and titles. A voiceover informs over archive clips. Overall the documentary aims to be informative while adhering to realistic documentary styles.

1. In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge the codes and
conventions of real media products?

2.  Our documentary is mixed, this is because it contains a series of
interviews and cutaways for observation, it also includes archive
footage for analytical views and a voice-over (the narrator) this
anchors the documentary and guides the audience as it is in this
documentary, informs the viewers on what the benefits are with
healthy food.
 We chose to set our type of documentary on a mixed because it
seemed the most interesting out of all the types of
documentaries we studied in our studies on ‘Types of
Documentaries’. We compared our documentary to professional
documentaries that we analysed in our previous studies at the
start of the course and it follows a lot of the codes and
conventions of a professional documentary, the only things that
didn’t was the when we didn’t have the name and job title on the
opposite side of the interviewee.

3.  Each documentary has it’s own distinctive content
that is clear as to what it features. In our
documentary it features themes that are based on
our original documentary idea these include:
Overall healthy eating, vegetarianism, reasons for
obesity, the benefits of healthy food and solutions
to becoming healthier. It has a single stranded
narrative that is constructed around a specific
topic, that is healthy and unhealthy eating and
things that surround it, for example; the
supermarket industries all rivalling against each
other with foods and prices.

4. Here we have followed the codes and
conventions of real media products and
included the name and job description of one
of the people we interviewed in the
documentary we filmed and edited. We have
positioned it at the bottom right hand corner,
however it is not completely accurate with the
codes and conventions with positioning it aside
from the interviewee because the colour of the
font would blend in with the interviewees
clothes, so we positioned it over the
interviewee because we felt it was still visible.
Like in a professional documentary, with the
interviews the name of the interviewee is a
different size compared to the job title. We
have followed this in our own documentary
because it complies with the codes and
conventions of a documentary.

5. The Mise-en scene of a documentary
use the codes and conventions because
of the background being in match with
the interviewees clothes, this is to link
the scene with the theme of the
documentary. This is a pretty important
point to follow from the codes and
conventions because it anchors the
meaning behind as to what is being said
along with the role of the interviewee in
the documentary; For example ‘The gun
that aims itself’ signifies that the
interviewee is involved in the creating
and making of the gun that has a self
locating sight that makes sure the bullet
never misses its target.

6.  Cutaways- These are used to break up the
interviews and fill in gaps and possible jumps
cuts, they can show the audience other part of
what the documentary is about, if the cutaway has
a voiceover over it explaining either fact that are
relevant to the cutaway or perhaps showing a clip
that has evidence in it which can inform the
audience of something they may not know.
 Editing the documentary also follows the codes
and conventions of real media products such as
adding a slow motion effect onto something to
build up the tension which would make the
audiences emotions fluctuate such as either
adrenaline, sadness, shock or realisation. It helps
keep the continuity of the documentary and to
keep the audiences focus in check.

7. Like in the professional
documentaries we have watched
we used creative camera work
that used media techniques such
as panning the camera left or
right to show the full picture
frame because it wouldn't all fit
in a still clip. Also zooming in or
out depending on the clip to turn
it into something fun to view
instead of a boring still shot.
We also used the rule of third
when it came to our interviews
because it was easier to line it up
so we were able to follow the
codes and conventions correctly.

8.  In the codes and conventions the voiceover is a standard English narrator
that speaks over clips of archive footage to make them more interesting and
to inform the audience about what is either happening in the clip(s) or to
inform the audience about something that is relevant to the topic within the
clips. We have used a woman for our voiceover, it wasn’t really an issue
whether we used a male or female for our voiceover because the theme of
the documentary was a unisex theme.
 We used a music bed at the start of our opening title sequence, however it is
not a lyrical song, this being because we wanted our documentary to be a
formal one with no lyrics and a steady beat. We also added in a heartbeat flat
lining because it built that dramatic effect.
 We also included the voiceover over archive footage that was placed in the
documentary. This is to anchor the documentary by either explaining what is
going on in the documentary, or to talk about relevant topics while the clips
are being played.