What is a Documentary? & Conventions - Maddie & Finnlea

A documentary film is one that presents information about actual topics. A documentary has to be factual and the key aim is to record important events and ideas.

Documentaries are known to inform the viewers and convey opinions about the topic involved, they not only do this but educate the audience with facts and figures. They are supposed to present an unbiased view on the said topic but in some cases they do not. An example of this is 'Supersize Me' which is a documentary that conveys a biased opinion against fast food. This will obviously influence the viewer by persuading them to also go against fast food. This all needs to be presented in a entertaining way to keep the audience attention and interest them. 

There are 6 main conventions within documentaries. These are;
Actuality
This is the term for real life events, places and people. Unlike fictional films which use actors, scripted stories and artificial sets, actuality is a record of real events.
Exposition
This is factual information given by interviewees and passes on information to the viewer in order to persuade them.
Voiceover
They offer information and explains opinions to the viewer. These can also sway the viewer by making them think a specific way/opinion.
Interviews
These usually consist of people with authority of the subject. Expert interviews can be used to give factual information or to educate the viewer about a specific topic. Vox pops can be used to find out other people's opinions.
Archive Footage
This type of footage is inserted into the documentary to show historical events and to show certain things that happened in the past that cannot be reconstructed.
Reconstructions
Reconstructions are made up footage by the creator of the documentary to show people the happenings of the real life event that they do not have footage of.

We have researched into this to see which conventions will be included in our documentary and which are most relevant to our idea of body confidence. Through this we have learnt that documentaries include different codes and conventions to get types of information across in different ways. This keeps the documentary entertaining and more interesting for the audience. 

Although these are the main conventions of documentaries, there are some styles which challenge conventions.
An example of this is Direct Cinema; This is a name given to a style of documentary produced in the 1960s as a result of ease and availability of lightweight, portable cameras. This allowed creators of documentaries to follow people in everyday life more easily.
There are many rules of direct cinema that have to be followed such as no interviews, no rehearsals, no narrator, no planned lighting, no transitions and only a small amount of people filming.
Direct cinema has now become 'fly on the wall' where filmmakers follow people around to record their everyday lives. An example of this is a documentary on the Rolling Stones- 'Gimme Shelter' 1970. This is where people followed the Rolling Stones on tour to record real life events and to provide their target audience with entertainment.

This task has helped us learn the detailed structure of documentaries. We've learned the different ways in which we can attract the audience and keep the documentaries interesting. 

Today the audience had a wider choice in ways the can view a documentary, they can use computers, laptops, phones, iPads and simply televisions. There is also specific television channels dedicated to types/genre of documentaries. This will obviously be an easier and faster way for the audience to find a specific documentaries such as; BBC 1 has more nature documentaries including, 'First life with David Attenborough' and Channel Four includes more documentaries about the human body and people's life, i.e. 'Worlds tallest man: Looking for love'.  

These are ways in which we can attract the audience and keep the documentaries interesting.