Issues, Codes and Conventions Assignment 1

TASK A: Produce an illustrated Powerpoint presentation on codes and conventions of factual programming showing how these codes and conventions inform or determine audience responses.

Your presentation should include 5 modes of documentaries

Your presentation should also include an analysis of convention of a news program.

               

               

TASK B:

Comparison Between News and Documentary Productions

A documentary is a term to describe a non fiction movie that that in some way ‘documents’ or captures reality. Documentations are often made to reveal an unusual, interesting or unknown angle – documentary makers are often motivated to make their films because mainstream media is not covering a particular story or viewpoint. It is a genre of production that uses video and film, photography and real people and real events which when edited together creates a particular story, viewpoint, message or experience.

A film documentary is a movie that attempts to document reality. Even though the scenes are carefully chosen and arranged through editing after filming, they are not scripted and the people in the movie are not typically actors. Sometimes, a documentary film may rely on voice-over narration to describe what is happening in the footage; in other films the images speak for themselves without commentary. In general, documentary films focus on real life and include footage of events as they happened for example a movie about World War II might feature actors portraying soldiers, real or fictional, in the war recreating certain battles or events. In contrast to this, a documentary film about World War II might partially feature real footage of actual fighting, with commentary from experts and veteran who were in the war to back up the evidence of footage being shown. Documentary films have remained fairly low on the radar for the most part but the popularity of some of these films illustrates that some audiences want to watch a movie with a serious message.

A television documentary could either be in in the format of a series or a TV film. A documentary television series would be made up from as little as 3, 60-minute episodes documenting on anything from nature to business to fashion. A TV series with journey through and explore on a specific subject and feature just as much as a film would, but most likely broken down into different sections, for example the BBC Two documentary series ‘Oh You Pretty Things’ was broken down into 3 episodes, documenting how music effected fashion then and now. Each episode was broken down into what year it was (60s-90s) and featured, real footage, real music and interview with all different kinds of people who had knowledge on the certain era’s. A TV film is similar to just a regular film, they tend to not be as long, similarly to the episodes, usually up to an hour and explore the topic into to great detail. 

The sole purposes of a documentary will vary from film to film. Many documentary filmmakers attempt to change or improve society by influencing an audience views on a argument. Their goal behind creating a documentary is to bring light onto a certain cause or injustice for example the Supersize Me was created to make people realize how they eat and how they live, and instead of suing McDonalds, people would realize they need to pay more attention to how they eat. For other documentaries, the goal is to simply enlighten or delight the audience in someway; these are called human-interest stories. This kind of documentary would usually go under the mode of an observational film, one that is not to judge but simply to show and allow the audience to make their own judgement. Other documentaries may attempt to uncover a hidden truth or mystery whilst some may simply be made to educate on a profile of someone famous.

A documentary can affect an audience in various different ways and once again in will depend on the type of film it is and what it is about. A documentary brings the viewer into a world that they otherwise might have no knowledge on. Either they open our eyes to tragedies, bring light to revelations or explore topics in a great deal. They cast a new light on subjects or uncover evidence but I think one thing to remember is a lot of documentaries are made to show what just one person may want us to, causing massive controversy. A audience could be offended by what they see, or perhaps have a eye opening revelation and it all depends on how the topic is given to us and what evidence is proven throughout. An audience might come away from watching a documentary with a whole other light on a subject they may of previously thought different about – which means that the documentaries perhaps has been reached. Other documentaries may just be made to put light on a topic people previously did not know about, for example a documentary which is dedicated to someone famous, this will give people a chance to find out much more on someone they have looked up to. Documentaries are very much about identifying and expanding on a subject which has either not been recognised enough or the filmmaker want something more done about the topic at hand.

There are a number of different things that we can usually expect to see in a documentary that signify that it is a film that has been made to inform and document. The most likely things that we can expect to come across in a documentary is interviews. The interviews tend to be used to give a personal account of what has happened, either they are an expert on the subject or they were an eye-witness to something which would give further proof to back up facts or shock the viewer from their experiences. For example in many 9/11 documentaries, will include someone who was in the attacks, and had a first hand experience with dealing with the situation this often shocks the viewer a, d what we can hear from them can be quite unexpected, this can also make the viewer more intrigued into watching more of the documentary.

The trailer above is from the 1997 film Kurt and Courtney, a film made of document the mystery of Kurt Cobains death. We can evidently see from the trailer that the this documentary features multiple different interviews these include interview from Kurt Cabins auntie, Courtney Love's estranged father, a LA Private Investigator and friends and lovers of the two. The interviews give a broader image on the story, and a more intimate and believable approach  to the story of his death, they are also used to authenticate the views expressed - as a viewer you start to feel more touched by the documentary as a whole.

 The voice-over in a documentary is commentary by the filmmaker, which is most likely to of been added during film production, the voiceover create a different perspective and can make the story easier to understand – it also is there to solidify the facts being told, if we can hear it being told in an authoritive voice and what we can trust, we can believe it.

Once again we can usually almost always expect to real footage of events, or if the film is a reconstruction, a typical scene that would see if it was the real footage.  The raw footage is used in documentaries to give realism, documentarians will often go to great lengths to convince us that footage is real, as for the audience it convinces us a lot more that what we are being told is the truth, if we can see it, we can believe it. 

In a lot of documentaries, you may that the filmmaker has used text/titles to label certain things throughout the film. The words on screen will often be used to anchor images, accompany clips or photos with dates or label the name of someone or something. These tend to be believed unquestioningly and are a quick way of conveying information

The Channel 5 documentary, Britains Worst Crimesfollows some of the most devastating crimes that have ever happened in the United Kingdom and goes deeper into the event and the people who were affected. In this program it re accounts the crime of the two girls and Mother who were brutally attacked and murdered in Kent. Like any other documentary it includes interviews with the people that had some significance in the crime, including those who were family, as well as this it includes archive footage and stills of the families and the people effected - showing the two girls and Mother growing up until the there death - this makes the documentary so personal and the audience will feel touched by how close you become to the family before the trad edgy. A reconstruction of what would of happened was also given, including text on the screen that shows us what happened at which time revolving around the crime. Tom Roberts, the narrator gives a real intimate account of the crime and makes the documentary affect the viewer, as it does become so personal to the people in the program.

Almost always you’ll be able to hear sound throughout a documentary, this can include music, or sound effects. Each have a given effect on what we are seeing. The sound could also be used to bridge between scenes so that the documentary flows through easier.

Finally the mise en scene and props. The mise en scene is basically everything you see in the screen. The most recognizable attributes being the setting and the people, it includes costumes, make-up, props and all other natural and artificial details that characterize the spaces filmed.

As we all know, news is made to inform people of recent events, or ‘’previously unknown information’’. The intention of news in our society is to inform as well as connect people together. In this day and age it is important that we are kept well aware of what is occurring in the local area, around the UK and even globally. The fastest and most convenient way to access the latest information is through the news – The Global Audience Estimate released that the World News reached up to 256 million viewers per week. People always have a constant desire to stay informed with what is happening around the world and the news is just the simplest way to get across this information to bring people together. 

In a News programme we can usually expect to see the same thing, and these things allow us to recognize that we are watching the news. It will vary from what news programme you are watching but you can always expect to see,  one or two presenters, if it is one presenter it can be either male or female and with two presenters it is most likely both. In this case, the male TV presenter can be seen wearing a suit, the suit gives of a professional, respectable and smart look to the anchor. The look makes the anchor come off as trustworthy and reliable therefore we know that we can depend on what he is saying. The anchor also presents himself in a good manner, with clean hair, shaven. He sits up straight, and has a proper presence about him. We can expect to see the same thing from a female presenter, dressed smartly, neat hair, light make up, and no chunky jewellery.  We would expect to see them reading the news and perhaps conducting interviews if in correspondence to the story.

 

The anchor is not the only person we see on the news. Certain news stories, if not most will include reporters/correspondents who have knowledge on specific subject,  these would be live from the scene this could be from war zones, live events, sporting matches or many more. Again some news stories will include interviews, therefore interviewee's would be on set being questioned by the presenter. And not only has this but the news of course included the sports presenter and weather lady/man.

When a story has been given a brief description from the presenter and has more information to be given the story will be given its own report usually with a different presenter who has researched into the subject. In this we can see the same structure, beginning with an establishing shot of a significant location that will usually link to the news story being told, then most likely the reporter ill be shown giving a brief but informative speech on what the report is about. Often cutaways of filler shots that will be played whilst the reporters is doing a voice over which includes facts - Which will appear on the screen in graphics. The report will then include voxpops - these are so that the audience will think they have some relation to the story. As well as this, after many more filler shots, the report will usually include some sort of human interest of someone who is affected by the story. Then one again there will be more graphics including these could include more facts or a graphs or images. Nearing the end of the report the presenter will conclude the story and the camera will most like sign off by a camera rise.

Finally in a news programme, a TV screen which shows images and graphics like key points and statistics whilst the anchor is reading them out. This is an easy way to provide information that either may not fit into the script or will point out the key points of the story.

It is narrator/voiceover in a documentary would be in the form of the presenter in a news program, they are both used in these kind of programs to be an informative and trustworthy figure that as a viewer can believe in what they’re saying and be given more information from. Another thing similar to this is the presentation, in a news program whilst a story is being told, we can usually expect to see images and footage that are in relation to the story, once again in a documentary the whole film or program will be have footage or images of the subject what differs between these is the fact that the whole of the documentary will mostly be taken up by this footage, compared to the news where it will only be up to about 3 minutes worth – this is the same for use of text and titles on the screen, where clear that documentaries go in to a lot more depth on one particular subject, and news programs go into multiple different stories, despite this they are both made with the same end goal in mind, to inform the viewer. I think the most obvious thing that differentiates the two is how they present themselves. For example, the documentaries will use a lot more and probably more detailed titles compared to what a news programme does. However, I think that one thing that is similar between this two programmes is the use of interviews, in both of these interviews are used to relate the subject or story to the viewer, they are used to gather more information, give proof of eye witnesses or to give a technicality of viewer relations.