Codes and Conventions of a Documentary

Interviews:

• Victims
• Witnesses
• Professionals/experts
• Used to show a point of view
• Used to authenticate the views (of the documentary)
• They may disagree with the view or message of the documentary

Voice-over/Narrator:

• Informative tone
• Male - crime, serious facts/figures
• Female - sensitive, emotional
• Powerful - 'voice of God'(?)
• Specialist knowledge
• Well spoken, usually. Clear, slow voice
• 'Right' opinions - Ruling class (Marxism)

Reconstructions:

• Different points of view - lots of different camera angles and shots
• 'Typical' scene - natural, realistic. Though, perhaps the reconstruction is not 'real' i.e. over or under exaggeration.
• May confirm a certain stereotype

Cutaways:

• Three basic cutaways;

1. Story-telling; images of signs, exterior shots of houses where interviews are taking place, images of characters entering/exiting, shots of cities - used to tell a story without the narrator
2. Emotional; photo of the deceased, a man alone, hugging, a candle, couple walking hand-in-hand - unique power to make the audience feel what you want them to feel about your documentary
3. General Coverage; (for example, at a race) watching, cheering, lining up to get in, tearing ticket stubs, flags, cars, raceway (montage editing) - sets scene

Technicality of Realism:

• Real footage - "chill"
• CCTV
• Natural lighting
• Diagetic sound
• Non-diagetic - narration, tension building music, used as a bridge between scenes
• Sounds create meanings
• Documentaries go to great lengths to convince us that the footage is real

Archive footage/stills:

• Historical archives, borrow footage from the past (research)
• Aids authenticity
• Adds further information which film-makers may be able to obtain

Titles/Text/Captions:

• Usually bottom right (rule of thirds?)
• Quick and cheap way to give info
• Words on screen explain the narrative/tell us who is speaking
• Audience believe without question, generally

A2 Media

So, looks like it's time to get on with some media. Again. ¬_¬


This year we have been asked to produce:

• a FIVE MINUTE extract from a television documentary on a subject of our choice;

• an advertisement which may be used in a magazine/newspaper ect. to promote the documentary;

• and finally, a double page spread from a listings magazine, which will also be focused on the documentary.

Sounds nifty, huh? In a nutshell, this is the brief. ^_____^

Whilst in the process of filming...

Okay, I've decided to upload some of the pictures we took whilst getting ready to film my main piece; namely, the process of applying make-up to my two characters.

Picture one

Here's Ellie, my main character, getting ready for her make-up. As her character is supposed to be somewhat gothic, she needed the most make-up; we focused mainly on her eyes as they are the feature point of her face.

Picture two

Here's Ellie again after we had begun to apply the make-up; we used some basic black eyeshadow and eyeliner to make her eyes look darker and more gothic. As Ellie's eyes are blue naturally, the dark make-up made them stand out quite effectively, which was the effect I wanted.

Picture three

In this picture we're applying more eyeliner underneath Ellie's eyes; this was to make her face look more bruised and like she'd been crying.

Picture four
Here is the finished result after we had applied the second load of eyeliner - liquid this time, as it smudges more - and had smudged it in.

Picture five

Next, we started working on her cheeks; they needed to look as though she had been scratching them, so we used some red lipliner as it was the most effective in creating welt-like scratches.

Picture six

We also applied some pale brown lipstick jauntily to Ellie's lips, then smudged it to the sides to make her look a little more unkempt and distressed.

Picture seven

Okay, here's what it looked like when we'd finished Ellie's right cheek and lipstick; after this picture was taken, we also began work on her left cheek in the same fashion.

Picture eight

In this picture you can see that we had lightly applied some of the red lipliner to Ellie's left cheek, and smudged her eyeliner in more. We also backcombed and took her hair out of the ponytail; we needed it to look messy and all over the place. Ta-daaa! Ellie is completed.

Picture nine

Next, we apply some make-up to my other character, Hailey, but only sparingly; as her character is portrayed as a normal teenage girl, we only felt it necessary to apply some foundation and straighten up her hair.

Picture ten

And here we have it - my finished characters.

General Evaluation of my film

My film was a piece about a girl who is driven into madness by the abuse she suffered from her father, and the neglect of her mother towards these ‘abuse sessions’. One particular ‘session’ tips the lead character, Katie, over the edge and she chooses to blind herself rather than face looking at herself in the mirror everyday, knowing what is happening to her.

The film is aimed at teenagers, both male and female, as it is a type of psychological horror film and I feel that it is this group of people who will enjoy my film most. As the piece is only two minutes long, it needs to be gripping and grab the attention of the audience; however, after looking back at my piece I feel that it seems a tad bland, and could use more work.

I feel that the storyline of my story was not clearly represented in the two minutes, seeing as my film begins after the ‘incident’ has occurred – the film is intended to be looking back at the downfall of a teenage girl, and I started the beginning with the end. Without the rest of the film to see, the piece does not seem to make much sense, sadly.

Also, though I had intended not to use music in my piece as I wanted more attention to be drawn to the speech between my characters, I think if I were to remake the piece I would definitely include music next time; it would add a more dramatic element to the action going on, and would add substance to the silent moments.

In all, I think that my piece needs more work regarding the camera angles, as they seem rather plain, and music should be included next time. Also, the storyline needs more work, and I should’ve thought it through more thoroughly.

Screenplay - Main Task

INT. Bedroom – daytime.

Two girls, ANNA and KATIE, are sitting in Katie’s bedroom.

Katie stares VACANTLY out of a window while Anna is PERCHED AWKWARDLY on the bed.

ANNA

Katie, you can’t hide forever, it’s been almost a year now, y’know? I understand that it’s been hard for you, but people are starting to really worry. I’m starting to worry.

Katie continues to stare.

The camera flickers to the bedroom wall; pictures of the two girls are littered across a pin board, along with notes and spare pins.

Anna pauses and waits for a response from Katie. She stands and WALKS over to the chair Katie is sitting in.

Katie does not shrink away from the other girl, nor does she speak. Instead, she places her hands over her eyes.

ANNA
(upset)

Speak to me, damnit! You can’t hide away forever, Katie! I know the accident was devastating, but Christ, you don’t have to lock yourself away forever. It’s hard to feel sorry for you when you do nothing to help yourself!

On the word “accident” Katie hears a WINDCHIME. She begins MANICALLY SCRATCHING at her face.

KATIE
(whispering and struggling to find her voice)

Can I t-tell… Secret… Secrets… No, no! Make it stop, make it stop… Stop!

Anna takes a step backward, a WORRIED look upon her face as her friend SHAKES and starts SCRUBBING at her arms.






KATIE
(muttering)

No accident… So dirty, so dirty… Make it stop, you’re hurting me! No, n-no don’t. Please!

Anna turns toward the door in a panic as Katie continues to mutter, wrapped up in an incoherent conversation with herself.

ANNA
(with hand upon the doorknob)

K-Katie, I’m gonna go get your mum, okay? Okay?

The doorknob SQUEAKS as Anna FUMBLES with it, and Katie FREEZES.

KATIE
(twisting and un-twisting her fingers)

Oh, there’s no point trying to get out. Shall we play a game? How about Mummies and Daddies? Daddy always did say it was nice to keep company… Funny, that.

ANNA
(confused, with a panicked expression)

What? Katie, why can’t I open the door? What’re you talking about?

Katie STANDS and TURNS toward her friend for the first time. Her face is bloodied and her eyes have rolled up into their sockets, though her expression is perfectly SERENE.

Anna SCREAMS.

Audience Feedback

After completing my practical piece, I put the video on YouTube and posted a link onto Facebook in order to get people to view it.
I also asked people to leave comments on the video, so that I may see their reactions.

Here are some of the comments I received:

“It was alright, but the camera looked a bit shaky at times”
“I didn’t understand the storyline to begin with”
“I liked it; it looked like it could have been good with more work”
“I think it could’ve done with music in the background”
“I liked the make-up used”

From these comments on my piece, whilst the majority are slightly negative, I feel they helped me realise what I need to do to improve my film, and I will remember to take into account these opinions in the future.

Audience Research

Audience Research


To find out from my target audience what they liked in a film, I decided to give out 40 questionnaires to my peers and record the feedback so that I may make appropriate and popular choices.

The majority of the people which I questioned, however, were females in the 13–20 age bracket, so there is some bias in my results.

I found that the most popular type of film among the people I asked was horror, shortly followed by comedy and sci-fi.
Horror 13
Romantic 2
Comedy 11
Historical/Epic 1
Sci-Fi 7
Thriller 2
Action 1
Musical 3


When I asked people what they liked about horror movies I got these responses:

“I like the tension”
“I like the fear factor of a movie, but the comfort of knowing it’s not real.”
“They’re immense”
“They’re exciting and thrilling to watch”

The majority of the responses I got for this section of my questionnaire were similar; people seemed to like the excitement and gore of horror movies. However, some people responded in a negative way to horror movies, stating that they were “horrific” and “too frightening” in some cases.


I then went on to ask people in which format they would be likely to watch a movie. The results showed that the majority of people were more likely to watch movies via digital downloading or when the movie is aired on the television.

When asked why people prefer their choice of viewing method, I got these responses:

DVD/Video: “I prefer watching films in my own home – I don’t even have to get out of bed.”
TV Releases: “They’re free, and I’d rather wait until a film came out on television so that I wouldn’t waste money on a DVD I don’t enjoy.”
Cinema: “I enjoy the movie better on a big screen. It makes me feel like part of the action.”
Digital Downloading: “It’s convenient, quick and easy to do.”