Documentary - Codes and conventions

Tips

• Opening must capture the audiences attention as quickly as possible
• Central question of the documentary has to be posed at the beginning in order to communicate to the audience what the programme is about. (e.g. Will we survive a double dip recession)
• Some quick snippets of interviews with good resposnes can draw audiences in
• Incidental music or evan a soundtrack, relevant song should usually accompany the opening sequence during some visual montage. The music however shouldn't override the voice over.

Actuality - Filming real events as they happen is a n example of a convention in a real documentary, but this could prove difficult with certain things like trying to film a hurricane or an explosion in Iraq and thus you need archive footage.






Fly on the wall - This is when you film real people as they do real things focusing on their lives. In terms of your documentary you may be able to film things like people having a genuine conversation about an issue relevant to your topic, a live sporting event, following an individual around as they do a job etc.






Voice over - Most documentaries have a voice over, a narration of what the programme is about, giving key information and introducing the topic of debate







Graphics - Documentaries often used graphics with written text. Maps, drawings, still photographs can be incorporated into the opening sequence through Jpeg files. Graphics should also appear as a banner at the bottom of the screen when showing who your interviewee is and what they do for a living.







Interviews - An expert interview with someone who has ample knowledge of your topic and can give a clear insight into issues is vitally important. This could be a real expert, parents, students etc.

Vox pops - This is more of a random interview with ordinary people on the street with a hand held camera, with a microphone popping up asking people what they think about your topic.






Talking head - A shot of someone talking directly to the camera as a presenter of the documentary could also be used. This is called 'talking head'. The talking head is the authority figure and presents the fact.







Music - Music is critical for the opening sequence but the sound of the song or music should not dominate and override the sound of the voice over. You need to balance sound and images very carefully and fade them in appropriately.