Codes and conventions of documentarys

What the opening should include:

The opening needs to be able to capture the audiences attention as fast as possible and the central question of the documentary needs to and has to be posed at the beginning of the documentary in order to communicate to the audience what the programme is about. Some examples of this could be, Why is Britain the teenage pregnancy capital of Europe? Will we survive a double dip recession? Are university fees stopping a generations going into further education? Another method that draws the audience in is quick snippets of interviews that contain good responses. When it comes to the music , incidental music or even a soundtrack usually accompany the opening sequence and the music should be relevant to the documentary during a visual montage. However the music must not override the voice over. The title for the documentary are extremely important they need to be dramatic when they are announced in some kind of form and the name of the show should burst onto the screen.

Actuality -

This is filming real events as they happen and is a convention of a real documentary. This however could prove difficult in certain situations. For example trying to film a hurricane or an explosion in Iraq. If this happens you have to result to archive footage.

Fly on the wall - This is when you film real people as they do real things , it is about focusing on their lives. In terms filming you could film people having a genuine conversation about an issue relevant to your topic , a live sporting event or following an individual around as they do their job.

Voice over - most documentaries have a voice over which is a narration about what the programme is about. The voice over gives key information and introduces the topic of debate.

Graphics - Documentaries often use graphics with written text. This can include maps, drawings, still photographs and these can be incorporated into the opening sequence using Jpeg files. Graphics can also appear as a banner at the bottom of the screen when showing who you are interviewing and who and what they do for a living.

Interviews - This should include an interview with an expert who has ample knowledge of the topic being discussed or looked into. They need to have a clear

   insight, this is vital. This could be a real expert or even a parent a student ex ... The camera should always stay in the middle and the subject should never look into the camera they must always look to either the left or the right.

Vox pops - This is a more random interview with ordinary people on the street that is filmed with a hand held camera, with a microphone popping asking people on what they think of a particular topic.

Talking heads -A shot of someone talking directly to the camera. A presenter of the documentary could also be used for this. It is called a talking head. The talking head is the authority figure and presents the facts to the audience.

Music -Music is critical for the opening sequence but the sound of the song should not dominate the sound of the voice over. The sound needs to be balanced and images need to be balanced to and they need to fade in and out appropriately.

A very British Gangster

A Very British Gangster Analysis


The documentary opens with a stereotypical film convention. Which is a camera shot of Dom and two other gangsters talking directly to the camera. The titles at the beginning of the documentary also follow film conventions. An example of this is the establishing shot of Manchester at night in order to show us where the documentary is going to be set . This establishing shot instantly gives a connotation of danger as the shot shows dark alleyways indicating it is the dark underworld of Manchester. The music playing behind the footage is very urban and street gang music this is in order to convey the feel of the documentary from the word go and how the focus of the documentary is on these particular gangs. The documentary continues to follow the unconventional film conventions by creating a sound bridge between the image of a train, which gives the connotation of an urban feel to Dom and his fellow gangsters addressing the camera again. The juxtaposition shows Dom in centre in order to signify Dom is the dominant one in this particular scenario. This is a classical film move, where the main character is signalled to the audience by position not dialect.The outfits the men are wearing such as shirts and ties link to the original gangsters in Italy when the Mafia was taking place. However the suits are not fine and polished like those in the Mafia implying these type of gangsters in the documentary are of a rougher breed because they are suggested as common to a degree and not as polished as their idols in Italy. The titles fade in and out slowly after this shot and creating the idea the documentary is almost romanticising crime. This is because such techniques of making a scene dramatic is associated with Hollywood films and TV dramas.


However as the documentary opening continues the documentary begins to follow some of the conventions actually associated with documentary films . A voice over continues the story of gangsters in Manchester as the voice over talks of Dom's previous crimes and sentences in prison. The screen then cuts to fly on the wall footage which is also a documentary filming style . The black ad white video gives the connotation of police footage implying that what these men are doing may not be legal exactly and the police always have their eye on them. A medium long shot follows this short montage and shows the head honcho in the situation indicating there are leaders in this gang. The scene then cuts away to a close up of Dom's hands to show his gold jewelry and dirty hands.This is in order to give the audience a look into the life of a gangster and what it includes. The incredible amount of gold jewelry on Dom's hands signify that a lot of power for a gangster comes from wealth . However the jewelry looks slightly unsophisticated and gives the impression of the character "Del boy". Basically Dom is a man from a working class background trying to signify he has gone up in the world. The close up showing Dom's grotty nails implies the job is a dirty one and these gangsters have none of the sharpness of the Italy gangsters and instead just get down to business. The camera then cuts to extreme close up of Dom's face. This is in order to look into Dom's eyes and try to suss out what he is feeling as he has just been addressed a personal question in order to add insight to the documentary. The dialogue in the scene shows Dom talking about cutting someones head of . This has been placed at the beginning of the documentary to draw the audience in and shock them initially so they are intrigued to hear more about this mans pursuits.


The documentary swiftly moves onto fly on the wall footage of Dom's family . This convention is highly associated with documentaries as it allows an insight into real lives. In this case those of Dom's family . This is done ,it is suggested to introduce the character at the beginning of the documentary so the audience begins to feel they know Dom and become engulfed in his world by watching the TV. The footage of the eighties Strange way prison riots blend into a montage on the screen . This is also a common convention of Documentaries especially history documentaries that want to give an insight into the past. In this scenario it is used to give historical knowledge into where Dom has come from.

Watching all of the documentary there seemed to be a lot of hand held work . This is also a documentary convention as it allows a sense of realism to be betrayed to the audience and after all documentaries are meant to be about realistic things. The use of Hand held shots also adds suspense and excitement as it feels like you are actually in the scenario so you feel what the people in the documentary are filming at that particular time e.g When Dom gets arrested you feel shock. However there are also many unconventional shots in the documentary such as a crane shot of a street. This is usually used in soap dramas e.g Eastenders not a Documentary as it is real life not fiction . This implies the conventions of documentaries are beginning to expand and turn more into film like scenarios.