Further analysis of the Documentaries

As a class we watched four documentaries. These were The Meth Epidemic, Loose Change, Grizzly man and The devil made me do it. We were told to make notes about the codes and conventions of each style of documentary then we were told to watch two documentaries indivdually and analyse those aswell. The two I chose were The 9/11 Faker and The men who jump off buildings. Some of the main codes and conventions I gathered about these documentaries were to do with the interviews, archive material, editing and the voice over.

Interviews

• Talking head shots were used during interviews to show the facial emotion of the interviewee and give the audience an idea of how they are feeling.
• Interviewee's were also interviewed at a medium shot, Medium close up or close up (Talking head shot).
• Interviewee's framed to the right or the left of the frame.
• Interviewee's eyeline is roughly a third of the way down the frame.
• Interviewee look at the interviewer and not directly at the camera.
• Interviewer can be postioned on either side of the frame - on the same side as the interviewee or on the oppposite side so the interviewee is looking across the camera.
• Mise en scene - Props in the background can relatre to what the interviewee is talking about and the questions the interviewer is asking.
• Interviews are not filmed with a light source in the background - i.e Near a window

Editing

• Some questions are edited out of interview's if the interview does not answer in full or does not give a good responce.
• Cutaways are used throughout the documentaries - Cutaways are edited into interviews to break up the interviews, to illistrate what the interview is based on and also to avoid jump cuts.
• Graphics are used to show the audience who the person is on the screen and there relevance to the topic.

Archive Material

• Archive Material is footage used in the documentary which wasn't filmed for the purpose of the documentary. This can be seen in the documentary 'Loose Change' where they use footage of the twin towers falling down. This footage was not intended to be used in the documentary making it Archive footage.
• Archive material can be used as cutaways from interviews.

Voice over

• The voice over usually has a regional accent associating with the topic of the documentary.
• It gives the audience information in further depth.
• Narrates what is happening on the screen to give further analysis to the audience and help them understand better.
• Asks the audience questions which can only be answered by watch the documentary for longer.
• Introduces interviewee's and what they do.