The documentary genre…

0 The official definition of a documentary is using pictures or interviews with people involved in real events to provide a factual report on a particular subject. A documentary film is a nonfictional motion picture intended to document some aspect of reality, presenting some form of information regarding a particular topic, which serves to educate, entertain, or inform the audience. Originally, documentaries were shot on film stock, but now we film using video and digital productions that can be released to cinemas, made into TV shows and direct-to-video.

"Documentary" has been described as a "filmmaking practice, a cinematic tradition, and mode of audience reception" that is continually evolving and is without clear boundaries.[2]

Codes and conventions and their purpose…

0 A hand held Camera - which encodes realism 0 Narrative Voice Over - leading the audience into a preferred reading0 Vox Pops and Interviews with experts / witnesses / participants0 Often a shorter running time than non-fiction feature films0 Intercutting / Parallel Editing linking key scenes0 Use of Archive footage to support filmed scenes0 Surveillance (information) decoded by audience (e.g. about McDonalds in Supersize Me)0 Mediated culture – documentaries select and construct, thus encoding opinion and subjectivity0 Selective editing crucial to constructing meaning0 Often point of view with encoded ideology, preferred meaning0 Use of Establishing Shot and Close Up0 Observational, Interactive, Reflexive, Expository in format0 Often single stranded, linear – one subject is often the topic0 Exploration of narrative themes, messages and values0 Different purposes – to entertain, inform, educate, satirise, shock, satisfy, provide voyeuristic

pleasure and for propaganda purposes (see Triumph of the Will and Crown Film Unitdocumentaries – Fires Were Started, Britain Can Take It)

0 Characters are often hyper real, exaggerated stereotypes e.g. Charlton...

How we are going to apply this to our documentary…

0Our main intention for our documentary is to make it highly informative, integrating interesting facts and statistics and music to provide entertainment at the same time for the audience. Our target audience is young adults, typically students, and so we must ensure that our documentary is not mainly focusing on informing the audience as this would bore the typical student. We intend to keep the audience interested whilst teaching them about the advantages and disadvantages of body modification in today’s society.