Codes and Conventions of T.V documentaries

The devil made me do it

Type of documentary: Expository, as it use a ‘voice of god’ to anchor the images that appear on screen. Observation as it follows people around like fly on the wall.
Themes:

• Region- evil

• devil

• the religious symbols use and the religious places shown, as it is about a nun being killed.

Narrative structure:

• Non linear- as all the information is given in different orders.

Camera work:

• Hand held camera work when using tracking shots

• Talking heads close up

• Tracking shots of the different people walking around such as the police man at work

• Tilt angle is use at a high angle and a low angle.
  
  

• Close up shots new papers so show the news at the time

• Close up of fans in concert

• Low angle shot of Marlin Mansion to make he look stronger and powerful as he is meant to be the devil behind the killing
  
  

  Mise-en-scene:

• Lots of different places in Italy historical and the relgius places

• Interviews taken place in different places to do with the person being interview, Marlin Mansion in his dressing room and the police in his office with his uniform on. Young people interview smoking and lying around in the café and in the bedroom.

• Empty court room as cannot film the actual court scene
  
  

  Sound:

• non diegetic sound of high pitched people singing as if it was anglesMarlin Mansion non diegetic music of his songs some live at concert which is diegetic sound.

• Non diegetic voice over of the translation into English

• Non diegetic sound of clock ticking and heart beat to make it sound creepy and add to the tension of the documentary.

• Non diegetic sound of violins

• Diegetic sound of the crowd at Marlin Mansion concerts.

Editing:

• Lots of cut away shots to show lots of different images.

• Cut a way’s to the 3 different girls in talking heads done in time with the heart beat in the background

• Tracking shot of tunnel, the voice over talking about the girls coming out of prison. So the tunnel is like a metaphor of there time in prison.

  Archive material:

• Footage of the funeral

• Music videos and concerts of Marlin Mansion

• Old interviews

• Voice over of actual interviews

• Footage of people arriving at concerts

• Footage of the notebooks of the girls

Graphics:

• Devil in the title- dark black and had a cross thought it to show the devil

• Text on the bottom left hand corner of the scene to show who they are in the talking head interviews

• The song lyrics going a long the bottom on the screen when the song is to show what he is singing about.

• Paragraph of writing at the end to tell the end of the story off.

Marketing movies

Type of documentary: Expository as it uses ‘voice of god’ but it does really expose anything just inform people of how things are done. It is an education as it mentions hear is a clip for teachers

Themes:

• Movies

• Marketing

• Promotions

• Advertising

• Tag line

• Tie ins
  
  

Narrative structure:

• Telling a story all about how to market a movie

• It following a linear narrative as it goes in the different order of how to market and

• what to do next.

• Voice of god’ is used to help the narrative go along and to explain to the view all the different technical terms.

Camera work:

• Close up is used on talking head

• Slow camera zoom in and out of different film posters this is used a lot as it zooms into the posters to show the audience what film they are talking about at the time. When this zoom is happening the ‘voice of god’ is explain in the image on screen.

• Extreme and close up of computer scene to show that the men is editing a film and to show how to edit the film.

Mise-en-scene:

• The different interview that where use had the merchandise of the different films that they produce or were involved with. Such as the mouse trap poster placed in the background.

• The different red carpet events, with all the different cameras and famous people that appeared in the film, form dress wear.

Sound:

• Non diegetic, sound of a very fast beat song made to sound like a movie soundtrack to go with the documentary, Also a jazzy sounding music.

• Diegetic sound of the actual films when they are being played.

• Diegetic sound of the crown at the red carpet events

Editing:

• Fast cut shots to all different images to do with all of the different films being shown

• Dissolve is used from the actual poster of the film to the people in the film.

• Fast clips from the trailers of films and the actual film clips.

Archive material:

• Interviews with people on the red carpet

• People outside different shops

• All different poster of film and all the different merchandise

• The McDonald's adverts for the toys which are the tie ins of the film

• Newspaper and Magazine reviews of the films when they came out

• The trailers and the actual sections from different films that are mention

• The different editors editing the actual film

Graphics:

• Money sings growing and moving towards the scene.

• The BBC two logo at the bottom left hand of the screen the whole time to show the views and remind them what programme they are watching

• The name and the Job title of the different people being interviewed, this is also in the bottom left hand corner and the name of the person is in a bigger type face then the job

• Titles of the different sections that they are moving onto in the documentary, this is used to help the narrative of the story go along as well.
  
  

  
  The Music Biz- Marketing Meatloaf

Type of documentary: Expository as it uses a ‘voice of god’ which anchors the images on screen. It uses a bit of inactive filming where there is footage of one camera man filming another, this is use on the film set when they are making the meatloaf video.

Themes:

• Music

• Marketing

• Re-branding

Narrative structure:

• It follows a linear structure to show how to market an artist

• Two strand narrative- as there is two different artist that they look into and talk about one being a case study on Meatloaf and the other being a smaller case study about The Village people.

• The beginning of the documentary starts as a backstage look at music awards, like this for about ten minutes at the start. Then at the end of the documentary it goes back to the backstage were meatloaf is being interviewed.
  
  

Camera work:

• Establishing shot of the very famous radio city tower over in New York. Slowly the camera pans down the building.

• Tacking shot of all different famous people arriving at the radio city tower.

• External shot of the different famous people arriving at the bit awards.

• Point of view shot as the camera man walks into the backstage area an shows the people on the door there pass. This makes the audience feel involved and as if they have been invited backstage too.

• Establishing shot of the virgin head quarters with a slow motion zoom, zooming in on the room the people are in then arrive inside the room.

• Talking head interviews done in mid close up form, and none of the people in the interview sit facing the audience they sit to the sit not looking at the camera but looking at the person they are going to interview.

Mise en scene:

• Busy and complicated when backstage, showing all the different elements of media that normally appears backstage, small over crowed room.

• In talking head videos meat loaf's video is being played in the background and album covers of his in the background.

• On of the talking head meatloaf video then dissolve into the talking head interview and then dissolves back out into the meatloaf video.

• Interview in the recording studio the music desk is in the background, as the famous singer is in front to show he was involved in the music business. Also he has glasses on the show that he is trying to look cool.
  
  

Sound:

• The diegetic sound of the crown when on the red carpet.

• A lot of the sound used is the non diegetic sound of meatloaf music being played.

• Non diegetic sound of a heart beat to show a fast pace to the documentary.

Editing:

• The opening titles is a music magazine with the main image changing to all the different famous musicians. This is to show that the documentary is all about the magazine business behind music.

• Most of the editing is simply just cut away shots.

• Parallel editing were both him and his manger walk up to get there awards to show the different reactions that they have.

• Slow motion of the fans reaction.
  
  

Archive material:

• The red carpet event, all the different interviews they did at the time.

• Different people on the television talking about meatloaf.

• Lots of music video footage also some oh the behind scenes is shown. Also photographs of meatloaf and album cover.

• Some of the footage that meatloaf is singing in is off other programmes should as when he performed for top of the pops.
  
  

Graphics:

• The name of the different music awards that they are at, there logos such as the Grammys and the Brit awards.

• The names of the people in the talking head interviews at the top left hand corner of the screen.
  
  
  That thing Lora croft

Themes:

• technical

• power

• video games

• gender

Narrative structure:

• How the game become big, then became a film

• The narrative follows a linear structure as it goes though have the video game was invented and what it became.
  
  

Camera work:

• Talking heads, done in close up to go with the type of action and to make it look more dramatic.

• fast tracking shot, sped up done with a fish eye lens when all the teenagers are at the computers, this is to make it look fast and exciting like a game.

• Close up of keyboards and computers to show technology which is the main theme of the documentary
  
  

Mise en scene:

• all different forms and different elements that you can find when it comes to technology and video games for example there was the video game being played in the background of the talking head interviews and video clips. The people in the interview wore pretty casual clothes to so that is for a young audience and it was not about a serious subject.

Sound:

• Very fast up beat non diegetic music played at start this is gain attention and inform the view of the subject as the music sound like a video game.

• There are many different layers of sound that go on at the same time such as the ‘voice of god’ would be over a sound track, this is to continue with the theme of video game as they use many different sound and SFX.

Editing:

• An interview was being played on a computer that was being filmed, this was to make it look like he was a video game.

• Things were played in fast motion to make it look like video game as they are fast.

• The rest of the editing is simply just cuts to all different shots and images.
  
  

Archive material:

• The game being played and the video footage

• Barbie doll advert to show have Lora has changed into a Barbie doll figure.

• Actual E mails that people have sent yet again using different forms of technology in the documentary.
  
  

Graphics:

• The person being interview at the bottom left hand side of the scene.

• At the being Lora Croft names comes up on scene in big bold letters.
  
  

Daredevils- The Ice man

Channel 4, 9.00pm

Type of documentary: Expository as it uses ‘voice of god’ the voice is a male and has a serious voice to do with some of the serious times in the documentary. Observational as it goes around his house as he does is normal things and lives his live with family, also follows him to see his normal daily routine.

Themes:

• Ice and snow

• Health reason, doctors Looking inside the mental state of mind

• Running
  
  

Narrative structure:

• A linear structure, as it starts he is doing all the different training elements to go on his marathon, in the snow and it then it finishes with the actual marathon at the end like it was his achievement.
  
  

Camera work:

• They used an underwater camera when he was swimming in the ice, this was to show the audience that he was actually doing it and that it was real.

• Tracking shots were used to show his normal day live in the house and outside

• Close up of feet running in the snow followed by a close up of the foot prints in the snow and also a close up of his feet getting out of the water.

• Some of the camera work was done in the dark so it lighting was affected.

• Low angle shot looking up at the trees.

• Hand held camera was used when climbing up a mountain.

• A point of view shot is used when he is running so it is also hand held as to what he can see when he is running which is the finishes line.

Mise en scene:

• Doctors interview placed in the doctor’s room to show authority

• Interviewing the family in the family home, this shows the family as a unit and shows where they live.

• The mise en scene of the streets is covered in snow an ice to show the audience the weather conditions

Sound:

• Music is non diegetic as action music played as the man in running in slow motion.

• SFX of a heart beat to show the serious of the situation and how in tense it is getting when he goes underwater as his life is in danger.

• The diegetic sound of his heavy breathing while he is running, this is to add tension to the documentary

Editing:

• Slow motion as the man is running through the snow
  
  

Wounded

BBC 1 9pm

Type of documentary: Expository as it uses ‘voice of god’ the voice is a male and has a serious voice to do with some of the serious times in the documentary. Informal, which doesn't follow the normal codes and conventions of a documentary.

Themes:

• Afghan

• War

• Medical services

• Army

• Family
  
  

Narrative structure:

• The army lads in the war that have been injured and are in recovery process to get life back to normal for when they are fully recovered to the best ability.
  
  

Camera work:

• They used a tracking shot when one of the lads was getting his eyes tested

• Close up on arm and face as they are the body parts injured

• Two shot of mum and son, two show connection.

• Establishing shot of the hospital

• Close up of the nurse changing the wounds around the eyes

• zoom close up to extreme close up of nurses

• establishing shot of different hospital's

• Close up of fake legs, as this will be the legs the lad will be depended on.

Mise en scene:

• Hospital's

• Hospital beds

• Physio

• Doctors and surgeons office

• Medical equipment

• Shoulder uniform

• Badges

• Doctors conference showing a power point

• Army vans

• Uniforms and metals

• X-rays

• operation

Sound:

• Piano

• Violins

Editing:

• Cutaways, shot to shot.

Archive material:

• Photo's from Afghan of the lads in the war

• Pictures of injury's of the lads

• Video of one of the lads legs getting blown up.

• Images of surgery and injured

• Interview by Piers Morgan

Codes and conventions

Themes:

• Fiction and non fiction

• Real

Narrative structure:

• Propps narrative

• Linear narrative

• Juxtaposition

• Equilibrium

• Disequilibrium

• New equilibrium

Camera work:

• POV

• Close up for effect

• Establishing shots of location

• Hand held for authenticity

• Pans and zooms

• Tracking shots

• Long takes

• Reaction shots

Mise en scene:

• Subject related back ground e.g. meat loaf footage

• Work place of person getting interview e.g. police in marlin mansion

• Reconstructions and re-actments

• Simple backgrounds

• Code of attire – dress code

Sound:

• Voice over

• Music

• Non diegetic and diegetic

Editing:

• Mostly cuts from all different parts of an documentary

• Fade in's and out's and dissolves

• Pace of filming such as slowmo and fastmo

• Cross fades

• Continuity

• Text added

Lighting:

• Natural lighting

• Reconstructions are often made darker

Archive material:

• Extracts from films, adverts, concerts, public footage

Graphics:

• Names

• Jobs

• maps

• Title

Theroies and Concepts

* A documentary focuses on and also asks questions about people and events this often places the audience in the position so that they form opinion about whom and what they are seeing.
* There are many devices that are used during the genre these are recorded events as they are occurring, information presented using visual aids e.g. charts and even maps and also events can sometimes be staged for the camera.
* The crew consist of one camera operator and a sound person this is so they can remain movable while filming.
* Interview or “talking heads” are where the film is recorded about people, events and social movements. Direct cinema is when the event is recorded ‘as it happens’ (live).
* A narrative form is often used throughout documentaries this means it tells us a story.
* ‘Voice-of-god’ always remains anonymous; they tell the story to the audience. An example of the ‘voice-of-god’ would be the voice throughout “Big Brother”, as you have never seen the person who talks to the audience watching the programme.
* Lighting used throughout a documentary regularly originates naturally from the environment being filmed, unlike the feature film maker who can use the additional light; they use this to influence the image so the audience is presented with a documentary film maker which can usually use the light that is available.
* The camera work that is mostly used throughout documentaries is hand held this creates a subjective point of view that is aimed at the intimacy between the audience and the film
* The operator does not always want a smooth camera movement as the shaky shots make the documentary appear more ‘genuine’ and ‘real’ therefore they use their body as the support.
* The editing is the vital part of a documentary, as they rely on it, there are..
Fade out – When the image slowly darkens into blackness.
Fade in – When the image slowly lightness from blackness.
Dissolve – When the end of the shot is superimposed with the beginning of the next.
Wipe – When the shot is replaced by another using a line, this then moves across the screen.
* Editing is used to interpret an event in a understandable form, throughout the editing process the material is then selected, ordered and then replaced therefore it is ‘meditated’.
There are a few documentary genres and styles throughout and these are Expository, Observation, Docusoaps, Reality TV, and Interactive, Drama-Documentaries, Current Affairs and Documentary dilemmas.

Expository
Involves the ‘voice-of-god’
A voice over anchors the meaning of the video/images being shown
Documentaries are normally centred on a problem that needs to be solved

Observation
Also known as ‘fly-on-the-wall’
Does not use the voice over or commentary
The camera is as unobtrusive as it possibly can be
Very close to ‘window of the world’ which is also allows the audience to see an unmediated reality
Techniques that are used include and indirect address towards the audience, diegetic sound and relatively long takes
Often tend to focus on an individual often during a crisis or drama

Docusoaps
Very popular
Uses lightweight equipment
Soap-like structured

Reality TV
Used to describe the most high-impact of the new factual television
The term was applied to the news magazine programmes which were based around emergency services
It is a mix of ‘raw’, ‘authentic’ material with the seriousness of an information programme and the commercial success of tabloid content

Interactive
Not as common these days
The style - used to acknowledge the presence of the camera and the crew for instance ‘Cribs’
Audiences feel that interactive documentaries are being honest because there is no attempt to disguise the camera and the crew

Drama-Documentary
Uses reconstruction and re-enactments
They provoke debate
Less truthful
The purpose and effect of the techniques used is more than important than the labelling

Current afaires
Journalist-led programmes
Aim is to address the news and the political agenda in the greater depth than the news bulletins allow
Reporters often appear in vision but there may be a voiceover.

Documentary dilemmas
Footage that are rarely broadcast unedited
The film maker balances their responsibility to those who appear in the programme with their legal obligations, their desire to make a successful programme and their responsibility towards the audience.