Codes and conventions of documentaries

1. Codes and conventions of
Documentaries
Will Warrilow

2. ‘Real’ Footage
• Documentary is essentially seen as ‘non-
fiction’ although there are debates around
this. However, a convention of documentary is
that all events presented to us are to be seen
as ‘real’ by the audience. Documentarians
often go to great lengths to convince us that
the footage is real and unaltered in anyway,
although editing and voiceover can affect the
‘reality’ viewers see.

3. Voiceover
• The voiceover will usually be authoritative,
encouraging the audience to think that they
either have some kind of specialist knowledge
or, as in the case of people like Michael Moore
‘the right’ opinions that people should pay
attention to.

4. Archive Material
• To aid authenticity and to add further
information which the film maker may be
unable to obtain themselves.

5. Interviews(especially with experts)
• Used to authenticate the views expressed in
the documentary. Sometimes, they will
disagree with the message of the
documentary, although the film maker will
usually disprove them in some way.

6. Sound
• Listen out for the use of non-diegetic sound.
Has music been added? Why? what effects
does it have? Is sound used as a bridge
between scenes and if so what meanings are
made? For example look at “Supersize me” –
how does the use of childish music undermine
McDonalds?

7. Titles
• Watch out for the use of words on screen to
anchor images in time and space. Labels,
dates etc tend to be believed unquestioningly
and are a quick and cheap way of conveying
information.

8. Set-Ups
• Not just reconstructions of events that happened in the past but
also setting up 'typical' scenes. So if you want to quickly convey
'classroom' you might ask a class to put their hands up like there's a
lesson going on and the teacher's just asked a question. Strictly
speaking what you're showing is not 'true' the teacher didn't ask a
question, but it is a way of cheaply getting footage a crew might
have had to wait fifteen minutes for if they had just waited for it to
happen 'naturally'. There is an issue here however because if
crews make a habit of using set ups they will only be using images
of 'reality' that audiences already recognise (confirming stereotypes
perhaps) and producing fresh images/ ideas about 'reality' will be
impossible. There's a sort of vicious cycle here. If I show you
radically different images from inside a school you may reject them
as atypical or 'unreal' but if I can only offer you a 'reality' you
already know about how can I change your opinions?

9. Technicality of Realism
• Including ‘natural’ sound and lighting.

10. Visual Coding
• Visual Coding Things like mise en scene and
props. Is that doctor any less a doctor if she's
not in a white coat and wearing a
stethoscope? Has someone been ambushed
in the street to make them look shifty?