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.