Conventions of Documentaries
Voice-Over
The voice over in a documentary often has some form of authority and gives the audience guidance and makes them feel like they have some sort of specialist insight into the theme of the movie.
It draws the attention of the people watching and gives them an opinion or perspective.
Documentaries are seen as non-fiction. We expect the information to be fact based and potentially interesting at the same time.
Documentary producers usualy go to great lengths to convince us that the footage is real. This includes techniques such as manipulating lighting and editing usually for dramatic effect (entertainment).
To make the film seem more authentic and informed, real home footage or still images are used.
'Raw Material'
(Including technicality of realism)
Interviews With Experts
Used to back up and authenticate what the documentary has stated; could be opinions on particular people or events where a personal account could be used.
Use of words as captions to attach images to time periods or to give important information about a character or date. It is a quick, easy way to convey information to the viewer.
On-screen Text/Titles
Sound
Non-Diegetic sound is used a lot on documentaries. A common example of this is music; it can be very effective in creating an effect or provoking an emotion. Soft music such as classical may highten feelings of compassion or sadness towards a character or situation whereas up-beat music such as house may provoke happiness and excitement.
Props are used in documentaries to add authenticity. For example, a doctor is likely to be wearing a white jacket and a stethoscope so they look more credible. In our documentary, we are likely to include a lot of skateboards and skaters who will be wearing certain style clothing typical of a British skater.
Archive Footage
Mise-en-Scene
This is used to aid authenticity and to add further information which the filmmaker may be unable to obtain themselves. The footage provides historical information, showing past events that are important to the subject matter.
Watching documentaries such as those on chanel four who conduct 'unreported world' where reporters investigate usually investigate a group of people or a place that people know little about to inform. Our film has the same intention as we wish to inform people about skating in London meaning we are able to watch this for inspiration.
While ive skated, ive watched professional and ameture skate videos by Plan B and Palace or just those posted on social media like instagram who have pages dedicated to talented, unrecognised skaters from around the world. Watching theses videos enables us to appreciate what looks good and what to avoid when filming skaters considering camera angles, sound and editing. This will influence the types of shot we aim to get and how we structure them in our film.
By Tamuka Walker
Genre Iconography
A branch of art history that studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images.
The word iconography comes from the Greek εἰκών ("image") and γράφειν ("to write").
Documentaries make the audience think.
By Ashley Fontaine
The iconography above displays what usually makes up a documentary, in which the most important is collecting facts and figures, since they make up the informative evidence of the topic documented. Documentaries are not just about facts but the facts are ultimately used to create socially critical arguments that invite an audience to draw conclusions about the issue discussed. These types of reports generally present facts about people, places and subjects.
FACTS & FIGURES: these are significant as no one wants to watch a documentary that distorts the truth. Most documentaries focus on the typical 'DID YOU KNOW?' facts and others try to incorporate 'FUN FACTS' to keep the audience engaged but still informed. The use of figures is just as important as numbers provide the audience with numerical information.
For example: California was the birthplace of skateboarding culture. It came into existence when the waves were too weak for surfing.
OR.
In 2011 documentary films grossed £11m at the British box office.
MAKING THE AUDIENCE THINK: this is another key aspect as documentaries usually provoke the reader to think, enabling them to form their own opinions on the topic presented. Documentaries have a variety of aims: to inform viewers, to convey opinions or to create public interest. These films influence the way the public understand the chosen topic; this topic is better to be controversial or not-well known in order to try to shed new light on a new event.
By researching the conventions and creating an iconography about documentaries, we were able to know what we needed to use in our short film to stick to these typically used elements.