Codes & Conventions of a Documentary

History of Documentaries:

Documentary Films are non-fictional, "slice of life" factual works of art and are sometimes known as cinema verite. For many years, as films became more narrative-based, documentaries branched out and took many forms since their early beginnings - some of which have been termed propagandistic or non-objective.
Documentary films have comprised a very broad and diverse category of films. Examples of documentary forms include the following:

• 'biographical' films about a living or dead person (Madonna, John Lennon, Muhammad Ali - When We Were Kings (1996), Robert Crumb, Stephen Hawking in A Brief History of Time (1992), or Glenn Gould)
• a well-known event (Waco, Texas incident, the Holocaust, the Shackleton expedition to the Antarctic)
• a concert or rock festival (Woodstock or Altamont rock concerts (Woodstock (1970) and Gimme Shelter (1970)), The Song Remains the Same (1976), Stop Making Sense (1984), Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991))
• a comedy show (Richard Pryor or Eddie Murphy shows)
• a live performance (Cuban musicians as in Buena Vista Social Club (1998), or the stage show Cirque du Soleil-Journey of Man (2000))
• a sociological or ethnographic examination following the lives of individuals over a period of time (e.g., Michael Apted's series of films: 28 Up (1984), 35 Up (1992) and 42 Up (1999), or Steve James' Hoop Dreams (1994))
• an expose including interviews (e.g., Michael Moore's social concerns films)
• a sports documentary (extreme sports, such as Extreme (1999) or To the Limit (1989), or surfing, such as in The Endless Summer (1966))
• a compilation film of collected footage from government sources
• a 'making of' film (such as the one regarding the filming of Apocalypse Now (1979), or Fitzcarraldo (1982))
• an examination of a specific subject area (e.g., nature- or science-related themes, or historical surveys, such as The Civil War, Jazz, Baseball, or World War II, etc.)
• spoof documentaries, termed 'mockumentaries' (such as This is Spinal Tap (1984), Zelig (1983), and Best in Show (2000))

The Earliest Documentaries:

Originally, the earliest documentaries in the US and France were either short newsreels, instructional pictures, records of current events, or travelogues (termedactualities) without any creative story-telling, narrative, or staging. The first attempts at film-making, by the Lumiere Brothers and others, were literal documentaries, e.g., a train entering a station, factory workers leaving a plant, etc.

The first documentary re-creation, Sigmund Lubin's one-reel The Unwritten Law (1907) (subtitled "A Thrilling Drama Based on the Thaw-White Tragedy") dramatized the true-life murder -- on June 25, 1906 -- of prominent architect Stanford White by mentally unstable and jealous millionaire husband Harry Kendall Thaw over the affections of showgirl Evelyn Nesbit (who appeared as herself). [Alluring chorine Nesbit would become a brief sensation, and the basis for Richard Fleischer's biopic film The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955), portrayed by Joan Collins, and E.L. Doctorow's musical and film Ragtime (1981), portrayed by an Oscar-nominated Elizabeth McGovern.]

The first official documentary or non-fiction narrative film was Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the 

North (1922), an ethnographic look at the harsh life of Canadian Inuit Eskimos living in the Arctic, although some of the film's scenes of obsolete customs were staged. Flaherty, often regarded as the "Father of the Documentary Film," also made the landmark film Moana (1926) about Samoan Pacific islanders, although it was less successful. [The term 'documentary' was first used in a review of Flaherty's 1926 film.] 

http://www.filmsite.org/docfilms.html


Codes and Coventions:


A documentary is usually a movie or a television or radio program that provides a factual record or report. There are many codes and conventions for documentaries. The majority of documentaries will contain the main conventions but different conventions may be used depending on the type of documentary it is and what information/message it is trying to get across to its audience.

Codes and conventions of a documentary are:


Codes and conventions of documentaries are:

• Opening needs to capture the audience’s attention as quickly possible.
• The central question of the documentary has to be posed at the beginning in order to communicate to the audience what the documentary is about.
• 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 a visual montage. The music must not override the voiceover.
• Titles - the titles need to be announced in some dramatic form. E.g: name of show should burst onto screen
• Filming of real events - the filming of real events as they happen of real documentary; but this could prove difficult with certain things like trying to film a hurricane etc
• Archive footage - footage which has been previously recorded by a secondary source.
• Fly on the wall – filming of real people as they do real things focusing on their lives.
• Voiceovers – narration of what the programme is about giving key information and introducing topic of debate.
• Graphics – graphics in form of written texts, maps, drawing etc
• Interviews – An expert interview with someone who has sample knowledge of your topic and can give a clear insight into issue.
• Vox Pops – random interview with ordinary people on the street usually with a hand held camera.
• Talking Head – A shot of someone talking directly to the camera as a presenter. The authority figure and presents facts.
• Statistic – used to back up points made.
• Music - should be present in the documentary but shouldn't be dominate.