Codes and conventions of a Documentary

Things you will need to include into a documentary:
- The opening needs to capture the audiences attention as quickly as possible.
- The central question of the documentary has to be posed at the beginning in order to communicate to the audience what the programme is about.
- Needs intriguing topics - E.g: Why is Britain the teenage pregnancy capital of Europe? Will we survive a double dip recession? Are university fees excluding generation from higher education?
- Some quick snippets of interviews with good responses can also draw an audience in.
- Incidental music or even a soundtrack, relevant song should usually accompany the opening sequence during some visual montage. The music must not however override the voice over.
- Titles are important; you need to announce the title of the documentary in some dramatic form. The name of the show should burst onto the screen.

Actuality: Filming real events as they happen are a convention of real documentary, but this could prove difficult with certain things like trying to film a hurricane or explosions in Iraq and thus you may 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 issues 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 use 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. E.g. Andrew Mitchell, Conservative MP

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 and no tripod, 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 a 'talking head'. The talking head is the authority figure and presents the facts.

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

Research into existing products - Louis Theroux, Behind Bars

Louis Theroux Louis targets taboo subjects with obscure characters. He is a nerdy, awkward looking man but turns out to be highly intelligent. He is a BAFTA award winning presenter. He travels to California to America's well known prison, San Quentin.

Analysing the opening:

The documentary starts with an establishing/master shot of San Quentin prison. This is normally present at the start of a film. It then jumps to a shot inside the prison, showing Louis engaging with a prisoner. Louis's job as a presenter is to engage the audience and he does this by having the opening of his documentary start with a prisoner who has been put in prison for 500 years. This makes the audience want to continue to watch the rest of the documentary to find out what crime this man commited to make him serve such a long time in prison.
The BBC logo is shown at the beginning of the documentary and this will show the audience that this documentary will be well made due it being made by the popular, successful BBC studios. BBC are recognised throughout the world.
The music at the beginning of  the documentary starts to play when they are entering the prison. The music is light, soft music which represents Louis Theroux rather than the prisoners. There is a montage showing Louis walking through the prison observing what is happening there. About a minute into the documentary, a title is shown and it is an animated cell coming across Louis Theroux. His character is looking up and there is a light around him.
Louis Theroux is the medium between the documentary/officer and the audience. He needs to ask the people who work at the prison questions that he already knows the answers to so that the audience are aware of what is happening.
Many of the shots used in the documentary are hand held to create a sense of realism to the audience and make them feel like they are there.
There is a fade to black effect and this could represent the start of a new day at the prison. There are voice overs so that the audience are aware of the inside information.

Research into existing products - Documentary opening

Analysing the opening of the documentary A very British Gangster by Donal McIntyre.

At the start of the documentary, there is an establishing shot and film titles with a voice over/sound bridge. It is filmed in Manchester, in the underbelly of society. Dominic is speaking directly to the audience and this is shown with a close up of him speaking to the camera.
There is a slow motion long shot of the three men walking up the street with incidental music playing behind.
It then changes to a black and white effect - CCTV, police are involved. There is a cutaway which shows his hands which are dirty/not well looked after and he is wearing jewellery such as bangels and rings to show his authority. A close up of his face is then used to show his expression and emotion. There is voice overs/narration every now and again informing the audience about Dominic's life.  There are hand held shots to show a sense of realism. 
There is a shot of the houses in Manchester that are going to get knocked down. The windows and doors are boarded up. Local people do not call the police when  there is a problem, they call Dominic which shows he is well known in his area.
He went to a boarding school at the age of thirteen and got raped there. He was abused as a child which could be why he acts how he is today.
Dominic Noonan states that he is gay and he isn't afraid to talk about his personal issues. He is confident when talking about his past because he is aware that nobody would tease him due to his reputation.
Dominic regularly attends his local catholic church and this is contradictory because of how he acts towards crime and people.
Documentaries are normally filmed through hand held shots, however, there are crane shots used in this documentary to show the chidren on the streets of Manchester.

Research into existing products

What is a documentary film?

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record.^[1] A 'documentary film' was originally shot on film stock — the only medium available — but now includes video and digital productions that can be either direct-to-video, made as a television program or released for screening in cinemas. "Documentary" has been described as a "filmmaking practice, a cinematic tradition, and mode of audience reception" that is continually evolving and is without clear boundaries. [WIKIPEDIA]

Cinema verite:
Cinéma vérité (French: [sinema veʁite], "truthful cinema"; English: /ˈsɪnɨmə vɛrɨˈteɪ/) is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.
There are subtle yet important differences among these terms. Direct Cinema is largely concerned with the recording of events in which the subject and audience become unaware of the camera's presence. Operating within what Bill Nichols,^[1] an American historian and theoretician of documentary film, calls the "observational mode," direct cinema is essentially what is now called a fly on the wall documentary. Many therefore see a paradox created by drawing attention away from the reality of the camera and simultaneously declaring the discovery of a cinematic truth. [WIKPEDIA].

Task 2: Research into existing products:

1) What TV channel is it broadcast on?
2) What is the title of the documentary?
3) What type of documentary is it?

Historical Documentary - The rise and fall of the egyptian empire.
Biographical Documentary - The life of Sir Stanley Matthew
Investigative - The truth behind the disappearance of Madeline McCann.
Artisitc - The work of Van Gogh
Wildlife - The anatomy of the Blue Whale
Political - The new labour years
Drama Documentary - Margeret Thatcher
Reality TV - The Kardashians
Celebrity - David Beckham's new tattoo
Scripted Reality - The only way is Essex


4) What style of documentary is it? Think in terms of:

Narrative structure - Linear/Non Linear
Editing - Fast, slow, dissolves, fades, superimposing
Voice-overs - Narration, register, tone, mode of address
Archive footage - Type,style, place, time-period
Graphics - Pie charts, images
Text - Captions, subtitles, banners

5) What is the subject matter/content of the documentary?
6) What are the messages and meanings behind the documentary? What is it trying to communicate to the audience?