Codes and conventions of documentary’s By Sofia Stavrou

expository An expository documentary format is when the person speaks directly to the viewer. This is usually done by using someone who has an authorative voice, for example David Attenborough. The voice is referred to as ‘the voice of god’ as the voice can only be heard and not seen. This documentary format is used on many science and nature documentary’s as it persuades the viewers of what is being said. The Commentary is often objective, which means that what they are saying is all fact, and not their personal views, feelings and opinions. The voice will often seem omniscient, as though the commentator knows everything about the subject matter which they are talking about. Below is a link to a YouTube documentary which David Attenborough commentates through images and video footage of what he is talking about. This is a perfect example of an expository documentary format. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7WtduFycDY&list=PL45F94551AD1735FF At time code (00:02:26) this is when David Attenborough starts talking. His voice is very authoritive and as you can’t see him, he sounds like the voice of god. This affect on the audience makes them believe that they can trust what he is saying because of his authority.

observational Observational documentary’s mean that the documentary maker follows the person around to observe the events that has happened of happening in their life. This could be to find out more about that person, or to find out more about their past life, what bad experiences they may have had, which affects them in their day to day life. The equipment used in these documentary’s can be informal, the use of hand held camera’s are often used, therefore the quality of filming isn’t always the best. Very rarely interviews are performed within these documentary’s, and not usually voice overs either. The camera shots are usually just long takes, as they are not there to create amazing footage but understand the life of the person in which they are following. Here is an example, Martin Bashir (world famous journalist) who followed Michael Jackson around for 8 months, to find out more about his life, what he does in his spare time and I think he was quite surprised with the results. As you can see, the filming quality isn’t great and there are no voiceovers. At the time code (01:28:59) martin sits down the Michael and starts interviewing him, this shows the viewer that he wasn’t just following him around, but he actually wanted to find out more about him which would get a reaction from the audience also. There are a few bits which are narrated, but it is mainly Martin and Michael speaking to the camera. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqqipytDeuM

interactive An interactive documentary is a documentary that differs from a traditional film and uses many multimedia tools to get this affect. The story behind the documentary doesn’t usually have a real narrative, but just bundles of information. I managed to find the prologue of an interactive documentary by Brenda Longelfellow who uses the format of a video game, mixing reality with fiction. She uses non-linear storytelling to address the effects on oil exploitation has on our environment. Although I don’t have the whole documentary, as you can see, what I have just described is actually in the prologue… (the video game mixed with fiction) http://vimeo.com/50543907

reflexive Reflective documentary’s is when the film maker acknowledge’s their presence in front of the camera and provides a narrative to the documentary. It is usually associated with experimental documentary’s, where the viewer is just as interested about how the film was constructed as they are the actual content. Reflective documentary’s tend to be the most truthful, as they focus on realism and show things as they happen without cutting and editing. Nick Broomfield is known to produce reflective documentary’s, so I have found an example on YouTube of his work, it is about the mysterious murders of Notorious B.I.G and Tupac. Broomfield films with minimal camera crew, usually just one camera man, who he rarely shows on the documentary. This is a very typical convention of reflective style. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFTcNbOpzPM At timecode (00:00:59) Nick starts narrating on top of pictures, images and video clips of Biggie and Tupac. This makes the audience not only see the visuals but listen to the audio which is being spoken to them as well.

performative Performative documentary’s raise questions about knowledge. It also emphasizes the subject nature of the documentary. The codes and conventions emphasize the emotional and social impact on the audience. For example, most people have heard about the documentary ‘supersize me.’ This is the perfect example of a performative documentary as the subject is focused on the emotional response of the audience, its not about the way it has been filmed, it’s not about the multimedia tools used, its about the subject matter and the purpose of the documentary which is to inform, use emotional response and the social impact. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcgAzuNKGNA At the timecode of (1:11:26) Morgan uses a voice over to narrate a cartoon of information to get the audience to have an emotional response. He also uses facts to gain the emotional response from the audience.

Realism Realism documentary's are as you like, or how we make sense of things. Realise documentary’s are the approach to the real, rather than a product of the imaginary. They are based on real life events or occurrences, which are shaped and created by an individual. This means the audience is positioned through the way in which the documentary is constructed. The film maker has to convince the audience that what they are watching is authentic. I can also use ‘supersize me’ as an example for realism documentary’s because it is full of real facts, and the film maker is convincing the audience of authenticity by experimenting and putting himself at risk to reveal the truth about fast food. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcgAzuNKGNA On the previous slide, I used the time code of (1:11:26), this also shows realism because of the facts and figures used in this time code makes the audience feel like they can trust what Morgan is saying.

dramatisation A television or movie dramatisation of events based on fact. http://www.imdb.com/search/title?genres=drama&sort=moviemeter,asc&title_type=do cumentary Here is a list of 1-50 dramatisation documentary examples… As you can see ‘supersize me’ strikes again.

Narrativisation Is to communicate (events of experiences) in narrative form, in order to better understand them.