continued - in summary

In documentary all of the conventions aim to persuade the audience to believe what they are seeing. Also the conventions make the documentary believable and real.  Although the conventions are in place the audience needs to understand that a documentary is a constructed version of reality, often using narrative techniques. A documentary is no 100 percent real and the conventions manipulate the documentary into something different. The audience must therefore make their own judgement on what they believe and agree with and what they don’t rather than just believing what the documentary says.

continued - hand held camera

The use of a hand held camera is also another convention. The hand held camera is used in some but not all documentaries. The reason for this is because it makes the audience feel like they are there in the documentary and makes them feels more part of the documentary. Also it makes the documentary feel more realistic.  A documentary that uses this convention is the documentary Ross Kemp on gangs.   

Ross Kemp on gangs (above) uses hand held cameras.

continued - strong and interesting premise

Another convention is strong and interesting premise. This convention is used in most documentary’s not matter what genre is. The reason it is used in most genres is because it gets the audience interested in the documentary and makes the audience want to watch more of the documentary. Some documentary makers use a technique, which links with this convention, which is the use of suspense, concealing outcome. This convention withholds information about the topic and only gives certain information away at a time. This convention links with strong and interesting premise because both conventions make the audience want to watch more of the documentary.

continued - interviews

Another convention, which is used in documentary, is interviews. Interviews often tie in with the use of experts to provide more information on the documentary. Interviews usually provides information from people about the documentary, they are usually used in between footage. Interviews usually use somebody who has a certain qualification. The reason for this is because people will believe that the person getting interviewed knows what they are talking about seeing how they have qualification. A documentary that uses interviews well is the documentary man on the wire.

The documentary Man on the wire (above) uses interviews well

continued - Archive footage and photographs

Archive film and photographs is also another convention used in documentary. Archive footage is footage that is added into the documentary and is often filmed before the documentary.  The footage is often talked about while being displayed on screen. Archive photographs are similar to archive footage and are used in the same way. The reason the archive footage and photographs are used in documentary is because it supports the argument of the documentary. It also makes the documentary more believable and adds more information about the topic in interest. A example of this is the bowling for columbine documentary. 

(The documentary bowling for columbine uses archive footage) 

continued - poor lighting and sound

Poor lighting and sound is also another convention used in documentaries a lot. An example of where poor lighting and sound is in the documentary a secret millionaire (filmed in the town of Warrington). Poor lighting is often used to make a place look poor and sometimes sad. The reason for this is that sometimes the documentary makers will want to make the setting look different to what it is, they do this by using poor lighting. Poor sound is sometimes used in documentaries. The reason poor sound is used in documentary is create to certain mood for the documentary and often to make the audience feel like they are they’re experiencing it for them selves.

continued - use of experts

Another convention, which is used in most documentaries, is the use of experts. The use of experts is used in most documentaries such as bowling for columbine  (by Michael Moore) and also the documentary super size me.  The reason for the use of experts in a documentary is to make the documentary feel more realistic and also to make the audience believe what they are watching.

continued - music

A convention is the typical elements, which goes into a genre. An example of a convention is the music used in the documentary. The music is often used through out the film but more so towards the end of the documentary. There are several reasons why this convention is used often. One reason is too make the documentary feel more realistic so that the audience can relate to it. Also the music is used because it helps to control the emotion through out the documentary. Another reason why music is used is to create the mood for the documentary so the audience knows what kind of documentary it is going to be. 

Documentary Assignment

Introduction

A factual programme is a genre of television, which documents events and real people.   There are several sub genres of documentary; some examples of the sub genres are fly on the wall, docudrama, and mockumentary. A mockumentary is often a comedic version of a documentary and usually gets presented in a less serious way to a normal documentary.  Another subgenre of documentary is a docudrama. A docudrama is a type of documentary, which is presented and set as more of a drama, and there is often more of a story line to the documentary. A docudrama often uses actors in the documentary and also uses staged events.  A fly on the wall documentary is another subgenre. Another subgenre is a fly on the wall documentary. In this documentary it is often made so the audience feels like they’re with people being viewed, also it involves the audience much more compared to a normal documentary. The purpose of a documentary is firstly to inform the viewer about the topic and also educate the audience about this. Another purpose of documentary is to entertain the audience and keep them interested in the documentary.

Summer Heights High - a example of a mockumentary which was successful. 

Jimi Hendrix documentary