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Documentary Codes & Conventions - Coggle Diagram
Documentary Codes & Conventions
Characteristics
Voice-over narration: to provide context and commentary.
Interviews: Talking heads and interviews offering firsthand accounts and expertise.
Archival footage: connecting the subject to historical events.
Direct cinema techniques: such as handheld camera work, create an impression of immediacy.
Approaches
Expository Mode: Features authoritative commentary and often addresses the audience directly.
Observational Mode: Attempts to unobtrusively observe events without obvious interference.
Participatory Mode: Involves the director's interaction with the subject matter.
Reflexive Mode: Acknowledges the documentary's construct and the process of filmmaking.
Performative Mode: Emphasises the subjective or expressive aspect of the director's involvement to speak directly to the audience.
Types of shots
Close-up shots emphasise emotions and explain details.
Wide shots establish context and setting for re enactments.
Editing
Sequential editing to build a story.
Cross-cutting to show simultaneous events or contrasting ideas.
The cutting technique manages the pace and transition between scenes.
uxtapositions in montage create new meanings, for example, they often reflective of the film's thesis.
Music / Sound Effects
When audiences watch a historical doc, they want to travel back in time. And one of the most effective ways documentary makers help them feel as though they’ve ventured into the past is by utilising historical background music.
There’s a knack to being a documentary creator – you’ve got to be able to find drama in anything. And one of the ways you can instantly dial up the drama on a scene is by adding some dramatic music that will all but guarantee bums on seats and eyes on the screen.
It’s human nature to be interested in the unexplained, from the origins of the universe to paranormal activity. Ergo, audiences love it when a doc explores mystifying topics topped off with some mysterious production music.
More often that not, there are moving moments during a documentary film or docuseries. Therefore, sad background music is often used by documentary creators to encourage viewers to feel pity for the people or animals in focus.
Settings
Documentaries often require the filmmakers to record on location, immersing themselves in the places pertinent to real events in the film.