A documentary is a factual
programme that is based on a subject, either something that has happened in the
past or about a current topic. Documentaries involve footage of the subject
with a presenter/narrator giving factual information alongside. They are
usually filmed out and about on location with one single camera.
2) What
is the purpose of a documentary? How might the audience react to documentaries?
Give examples from documentaries you have seen.
The purpose of a documentary is
to document an event and give factual information alongside visual footage to
give knowledge about the subject to the audience. Documentaries provide
particular views and understandings of the subject. Audiences might react to documentaries
in different ways depending on the topic. Documentaries want the audience to
connect emotional and get involved with the subject. Documentaries cause many
different reactions, for example some can be shocking and eye-opening, for
example Louis Theroux ‘The most hated family in America’ where as others can be
happy and light-hearted for example David Attenborough’s Frozen Planet.
3) What
do you expect to see in a documentary?
There are a number of elements
that you would expect to see in a documentary. Almost every documentary has a
presenter or narrator that introduces the subject and provides voice-overs and
conducts interviews. Documentaries are factual and will have either on screen
or audio facts based on the subject. They often include interviews and witness
accounts with real life people depending on the topic. The main thing you would
expect to see in a documentary is footage, both raw and real footage and also
reconstructions and interpretations of past events.
4) Are there particular subjects that work well for documentaries?
The
particular subjects that work well for documentaries are those that are
interesting and can be interpreted and explored in many different ways.
Subjects that also make interesting documentaries are controversial ones that
can cause the audience to debate and get involved emotionally. For example some
subjects that work well are nature, war, crime, ethics and human conditions.
5) List some of the
codes and conventions of documentaries. Give examples from documentaries you
have seen
·
Presenter
– giving factual information on the subject
·
Narrator
– voice over
·
Interviews
·
Out
and about – filmed on location – single camera
·
Footage
– real and reconstructions – montages
·
Facts
and statistics
6) List the 5 ‘modes’ of
documentary, explain the codes and conventions of each and provide examples to
illustrate your points.
Expository:
An expository
documentary has a main subject and uses images combined with voice overs to
give information.
·
Voice
overs – addresses audience directly
·
Images
used to illustrate or contradict voice over
·
Editing
used for continuity
·
Variety
of footage
·
Main
opinion portrayed is of logic – nothing to controversial
·
Example
-
Observational:
An observational
documentary is based purely on a subject with no voice overs or interviews,
just footage.
·
Location
shooting
·
Direct
sound recording
·
No
voice over
·
No
interviews
·
Documentary
makers presence is hidden
·
Subject
appear to be unaware of camera
·
Examples
– Frozen Planet, Planet Earth
Participatory:
A participatory
documentary is where the subject is interactive with the crew and is made up
mainly of interviews combined with footage and voice overs.
·
Interactive
·
Crew
interact with subject
·
Interviews
dominate – formal
·
Use
of archive material – news, stills, old footage, letters, headlines
·
Location
shooting – hand held camera
·
Voice
over – by the film maker
·
Film
maker visible to camera
·
Example
– Louis Theroux
Reflexive:
A reflexive documentary
is when the footage is the main point and voice overs are sometimes used but
are not uncertain.
·
Borrows
features from fiction films – for emotional response
·
Incorporates
anti – realist techniques
·
Voiceover
(when present) questioning and uncertain
·
Example
- crime watch
Performative:
A performative
documentary is when the filmmaker is directly involved and discusses their
views and opinions on the topic.
·
Documentary
maker in a performance – performing for the camera
·
Maker
interacts or is sometimes the subject
·
Filmmaker
– comments frequently on fact that they are making a documentary
·
Narrative
of investigation / mystery
·
Addresses
audience in emotional and direct way
·
Subject
often to do with identity (gender or sexuality)
·
Example
– Grizzly Man
Louis
Theroux’s ‘The Most Hated Family in America’
This essay is going to analyse the
codes and conventions that are used in TV/film documentary filmmaking using
Louis Theroux’s ‘The Most Hated Family in America’ as a case study
1)
Louis
Theroux is an interactive documentary filmmaker. This is made clear in this
particular case study by the way that he interacts with the subject and gets
directly involved. An example of his interactive documentary techniques is the unrehearsed face to face interviews, with the
family. For example when he is interviewing the Pastor of the church, Theroux
asks very direct questions that angers the Pastor. Theroux’s interactive style
is clear in the way he attends and gets involved in what the church do. For
example he takes part in the church services and interacts with them on a human
level. He does this by asking the members of the church more personal questions
about relationships and love interest, unrelated to the church, to get a feel
of what their day to day life is like. It is also clear that Theroux is an
interactive documentary filmmaker as he gets his own real footage of the family
and the reactions of the American public, for example he attends the pickets,
arranged by the family, of the dead soldiers’ funerals and films a first had
experience of what they are like and how other people feel about them.
2)
The
main subjects of the documentary are the members of the church as well as
Theroux himself. The documentary mainly focused on a few certain members of the
church. One member that was heavily focused on was Shirley, the Pastor’s
daughter, who was a very passionate member of the church that had enforced her
strong beliefs on her children and would not accept any alternative. Another
main subject of the documentary was Pastor Phelps (Gramps) who is the founder
of the church. A few of the Shirley’s children were also featured quite a lot
as well as a member called Steve who was a journalist himself and went to make
a film about the church but was converted in the process.
3)
There
are many controversial themes and issues featured in the documentary. The main
one being religion. Homosexuality is an ongoing theme throughout as the family
target homosexuals and is heavily against homosexuality. War is also an ongoing
topic as the family believe the troops are all dyeing for nothing and are being
punished by god, which is why they picket the funerals of the dead soldiers.
4)
In
terms of the size of Theroux’s crew I assume that it is fairly small with one
maybe two camera men and a sound man. This tells you that they wanted to show
the family in the most natural way and didn’t want them to be performing for a
large camera crew and putting on an act.
5)
Theroux
is an interactive documentary filmmaker and uses a participatory mode of
documentary. The main codes and conventions that are involved in participatory
filmmaking are that they are interview dominated and the filmmaker is always
visible and on camera. The crew tend to interact directly with the subject.
Voice-overs are used as well as archive material. It is filmed on location with
a hand held camera.
6)
The
style of interviewing that Theroux uses is very interactive. He asks a lot of
questions to try and draw out as much information from the subject as he can
and also is trying to catch them out in a way and try and prove them wrong. I
would describe his interview style as humorous and persistent as it is almost
as if he is trying to wind up the subject with constant questions to trick them
into bursting out with an answer Theroux wants to hear.
7)
It
is clear what Theroux wanted to achieve when making the documentary. He wants
to cause a debate amongst the audience and wants them to connect emotionally
with the subject as well as have opinions on the topics raised. I believe that
he achieved this as I felt a similar reaction when watching this
8)
I
think that the audience would react to this in a similar way as I did myself. I
believe most people would be very shocked at the way the family communicate
their beliefs and the way they go about their business. The audience might also
be shocked at some of the opinions of the family.
9)
I
would personally describe the documentary as interesting as it shows how
different some people are and how strongly they can believe in something that
is clearly wrong in the eyes of most people. I would say the documentary is
very controversial because of some of the themes raised are very shocking and
somewhat disgusting, which caused debate within the audience.
Codes and conventions are the 'ingredients' that make up a news broadcast. They are what you expect to see and hear on a broadcast.
A TV news broadcast is an informative video that gives you information on what is happening around the world. They cover all topics ranging from sport to war. They will have both video footage and people talking about these different topics.
Codes and Conventions of a TV News Broadcast:
Studio news presenters are essentially
the face of the broadcast and the channel they are presenting for. They are
used by News Outlets to present the news to the audience. They are there to
inform the audience by relaying information that they have researched. News
presenters conduct their own research on stories around the world and they
write and read their own scripts as well as editing copy and conducting
interviews. News presenter must be well presented and un-biased and also know
the laws that go with journalism. They must know the laws of journalism because
if they were to break them they could end up in a lot of trouble. For example
if they were to say something that was untrue and damaged the reputation of someone
then they could be sued for libel which would lead to court proceedings and
potentially cost them a lot of money.
Field
Reporters
Field
reporters are like studio news presenters however they are usually out-and-about
‘on location’ reporting a story from a scene, outside of the studio. There
reports are sometimes pre-recorded. News outlets use Field reporters to report
on stories such as breaking news stories, live events, sporting matches, war
zones, ongoing news stories and interviews. News outlets send reporters to ‘the
field’ so they can experience the situation themselves and give a firsthand
view. They are used as filler to break
up stories so that the audience is not just watching the same news presenter in
the studio reading the whole thing.
Contributors
Contributors
are used by News Outlets in News Broadcasts to add information to a story.
These contributors can be experts, which add information to a story based on a
certain topic. Experts are used because they are trustworthy and authoritative
so the audience believes what they are saying. Witnesses are also contributors.
Witnesses are people that give first hand accounts of something they have seen
happen, for example a murder or a car crash. They give a realist response that
adds colour to news broadcasts. Vox pops are also a form of contributors as
they are the voice of the public. They are often used as filler but they also
portray the public opinion.
Links
to Studio
A link to studio is when one live news
studio will cut to another live studio to give more information on a topic.
This other studio could be anywhere around the world. Links to studio are used
in news broadcast as filler so that the audience is not getting bored of the
same presenter. They also add colour to a story as well as more info from
different sources.
Actuality
Footage
Actuality
footage is real, raw footage that the new teams have either recorded themselves
or have sourced it from somewhere else. This footage is real and will relate to
the story that the presenters and field reporters are talking about. Actual
footage is used by news outlets to support a story and give a visual aid to
better explain what is being spoken about.
Report
Structure
All
TV news broadcasts will have a structure they follow. Usually it is the pyramid
structure, which means they start with the most important news story first and
then go down in order of importance. They do this because the audience is going
to want to find out about the biggest headline first as it will usually be the
most shocking or interesting. The codes and conventions that go into report
structure are piece to camera, cutaways, voice-overs, interviews, vox pops,
graphics, charts and final summary.
Mode of Address is the style of
delivery. It is how the presenter addresses the audience. There are certain
rules that the presenter and the news team have to follow in a TV news
broadcast. They have to address the camera directly by looking straight at the
camera talking to the audience. The presenter needs to be clear and fluent when
speaking. The presenters don't usually have a distinct accent. The top stories
are always announced first. The news bulletin should begin with a high angle or
a long shot of the studio to emphasise the size. When an interview is taking
place the interviewee looks off camera and at the reporter.
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