“Define the codes and conventions of the documentary genre. You must demonstrate your understanding surrounding the issues of factual programming for television by comparing and contrasting 5 different documentaries.”
The main purposes for documentaries are for entertaining and educating the viewers about a certain subject or issue. It’s a motion picture film that’s a non-fictional document aiming to capture reality in the premise of what the documentary is about. Their job is to inform and educate the audience with facts and figures, enticing imagery or narration and a fun, educational time. Documentaries are made to document the world and while they all deal with completely different areas and situations their techniques and modes in how they are created can vary massively. In this document I will be going through the 8 different modes of documentaries and their impact on the viewer. Documentaries shape how people feel and think on a subject especially if it’s newly introduced to them through the film. Opinions will be made depending on what’s being spoken about and so documentaries must be careful what is being exposed and whether it’s what they want to be addressed.
Expository documentaries are about exposing and addressing a situation and are usually aimed at the older audience like 17-80. Its purpose is to expose the idea in the documentary to the audience and inform them too. The footage being edited and shown can be both original and archive footage. Archive footage is footage that is either clips or films from the past and therefore isn’t the filmmakers own footage to use or its remade footage to match that old aesthetic or time period. It’s very hard to make or gather footage from past happenings or difficult scenarios so using archive footage is perfect for when you need videos from the past. The use of this footage can create much more atmosphere and help with the setting of the story. Camera and crew are usually invisible or appear rarely on the frame. This is usually in a shot where they film the camera crew. More likely in nature documentaries. This is to show people the side they will never see in the mainstream media. The side where it’s all completely real and what people/crew are doing and where things are going. It shows you the real information about the issue. Not the acted out version with false emotions. Much like the ‘Spy in the wild-BBC documentary (Source 1). Where the crew are show during the episode. Other documentaries have done too same for setting up to show how it’s made. Scripts and clips are often very set and tight to a schedule. The material is very precise to what the director wants or needs. The shots they use are often very reality based. They will be shots of something happening in normal everyday life that is also often accompanied by narration by a well-known voice or an expert. This helps direct the story and route to follow with the imagery. However, when the filmmaker is show on some occasions they are often within the same situation as just shot so the viewers can associate the two. The feeling of these documentaries are very serious and educating. This creates a very serious and intimidating tone sometimes. The directness of them compels the viewer to keep watching. This is also helped by the sound. In these types of documentaries when narration isn’t happening the sound means everything. The shots will be empty otherwise and so often cheerful, motivated or calm music is used. Editing all this together can be time consuming and often paces change depending on what’s being shown. It can be linked too observational and poetic. Also used with mockumentaries quite a lot with narration.