A2 Advanced Portfolio

This year as part of my A2 Course I have been asked to create either a documentary, a short film or a music video. After careful consideration, I decided that doing a short film is not something that interests me greatly, so over the next two weeks I will decide between a documentary or a music video. I am now going to weigh up the codes and conventions of a doucmentary and a music video to help me reach my decision.

CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF A DOCUMENTARY

A documentary is usually a programme aiming to deliver certian topics to its given audience, providing the form of either fact, opinion or both. Most documentaries follow these similar patterns:
Voiceover- This will be a leading figure, male or female, who will talk about the invents that you, the viewer, is seeing on the screen. The voice usually will usually attempt to guide you towards the opinion that the show itself has obtained. Usually the host will refrain from being on screen, but sometimes this can change. This would usually be described as challenging the codes and conventions of a documentary.
Event footage-typically shows footage of what the documentary is based around. Commonly used event footage is "archive footage." This is real live footage which has been included by the show and is based around the purpose of the documentary. This footage is usually most effective as it gives viewers a true reflection of what has happened. A well known way of displaying archive footage is through the "fly on the wall technique" where a camera will be in the specific area necessary for filming and is able to provide us with a correct view of what is happening. Editors can of course manipulate archive footage so it displays only the view that the show wants displayed. For example if a programme's purpose is to show the bad side to a certain family, it will not include loving moments gained from the fly on the wall technique in the documentary.
Re-constructions are scenes filmed by the television show which attempt to provide an accurate reflection of what happened with the use of actors.
Eye witness footage is when a person from the general public who witnessed an event from the topic matter is filmed giving his or her version of events.
Expert Interviews-interviews conducted by the show with someone considered an expert, delving into their knowledge of the matter at hand.
Vox pop method-where the narrator has a hand held microphone and will go up to random people on the street and ask them for their opinion on the matter.
Images and text-are both very popular methods regularly used in documentaries to add an element of entertainment and imagery to the programme. They are also a way of displaying relative information quickly on screen and can be very effective.