Conventions of a documentary

By Joe Griffiths

Voiceover

• The voiceover will usually be authoritative in some way, encouraging the audience to think that they either have some kind of specialist knowledge or, as in the case of people like Michael Moore and Nick Broomfield: ‘the right’ opinions that people should pay attention to.

‘Real’ footage and events

• Documentary is essentially seen as ‘non-fiction’ although this isn’t always true.

• However, a convention of documentary is that all event presented to us are to be seen as ‘real’ to the audience.

• Documentarians often go to great lengths to convince us that the footage is real and unaltered in anyway, although voiceovers and editing can affect the ‘reality’ we, as viewers, see.

Technicality of realism

• Using ‘natural’ light and sound during interviews increases the realism and helps the audience believe what is being said.

Archive footage/skills

• To add authenticity and to add further information which the film maker may be unable to obtain themselves.

Interviews with experts

• Used to authenticate the views expressed in the documentary. Sometimes, they will disagree with the message of the documentary, although the film maker will usually disprove in some way.

Sound

• Sound differs from diegetic and non-diegetic Diegetic sounds are from noises that are happening in the scene that haven’t been edited in, this means sounds like people talking or things like footsteps.Non-diegetic sounds are sounds that have been added in, this can include things like music, a narration and sound effects. Non-diegetic sounds are often used to add drama to moments that would be silent without it