Codes and conventions of documentary What makes a documentary a documentary?

Voiceover  The voice of an unseen narrator that guides the viewer through a documentary.  The voiceover will usually be authoritative in some way and this will encourage the audience to think that they either have some kind of specialist knowledge or ‘the right’ opinions that people should pay attention to.

‘Real’ footage of events  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’ we, as viewers, see.

Archive footage/stills  Archive footage or stills is the addition of older, existing images/videos in order to add further information which the film maker may be unable to obtain themselves.

Interviews with subjects  These are used to develop the documentary’s focus.

Interviews 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.

Use of text/titles  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.

Sound  Music is often added to add a particular effect or to enhance meaning.

Set - ups  Reconstructions of events that happened in the past  Also, setting up 'typical' scenes. E.G. If the documentarian wanted to quickly show a 'classroom’, they 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'.  Also, setting up 'typical' scenes. E.G. If the documentarian wanted to quickly show a 'classroom’, they 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'.

Mise-En-Scene  Mise-en-scene  Things like clothing and props. Is that doctor any less a doctor if she's not in a white coat and wearing a stethoscope?  Things like clothing and props. Is that doctor any less a doctor if she's not in a white coat and wearing a stethoscope?