7/30/2019 Codes and Conventions of TV Documentaries and Student Documentaries

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Phil Harrison

Codes and conventions of TV documentaries and student documentaries

Panorama: Are The Net Police coming for you?

One documentary I looked at was by Panorama which was investigating the consequences of illegal

downloading and what the government is doing to try and stop it. The documentary titled, Are thenet police coming for you. Would suggest that it would include codes and conventions of the

internet and interviews with different people involved in either the music industry e.g. singers or

producers. And also involve interviews with the different government bodies and what they will do if

people illegally download music too often. For example pictured below is someone typing on a

keyboard which immediately implies that the documentary would be about technology and

computers. The other picture taken from the documentary shows the reflection of a computer

screen in his glasses in a dark room which would suggest that the internet and computers are almost

an addiction in the modern day as the man is isolated in a dark room staring at a computer screen.

Below is an image from the documentary showing an interview with Louie Walsh, someone heavily

involved with music, giving his opinion on illegal downloading. This is appropriate for the

documentary as he is someone with experience in the music industry and so understands the

implications of so many people illegally downloading their music off the internet. The reason why he

has been chosen to give his opinion in the documentary is that the audience watching know him

very well from other TV shows such as the X Factor and so the audience watching are more likely to

want to watch as there are people who they recognise. This is an important code for a documentary

as the audience watching will want to hear an opinion from someone who they recognise or respect

to really become interested with the documentary.

7/30/2019 Codes and Conventions of TV Documentaries and Student Documentaries

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Phil Harrison

A2 Student Documentary: Festival fever

The title of the student documentary Festival Fever would imply that the documentary is all about

music and festivals. Therefore I would expect to see different clips from festivals and possibly

interviews with festival organisers, music bands playing at festivals and possibly music producers.

The documentary begins with loud music in the background which is expected as it fits the

description of the documentary as it is about festivals and music. However, this music doesnt

decrease in volume and throughout the documentary, the music drowns out the voiceover from one

of the students and it is very hard to clearly understand what she is saying. It is important when you

are making a documentary that it is all put together and edited correctly. This documentary clearly

hasnt been edited correctly as the music is way too loud. Therefore to make sure our documentary

is successful we must make sure as a group that it is all edited correctly and the narrator can be

heard clearly.

The documentary does have many strong points though. It shows various clips of festivals anddifferent artists that you would associate with festivals. Also they have managed to get an interview

with Matt Stocks, a radio DJ at KERRANG! This is particularly impressive and really grabs the

audiences attention as he is someone who knows a lot about music being a DJ at KERRANG! and

later goes on to talk about his experiences from when he has been to festivals so he has knowledge

of festivals and can give an insight as to why he believes they are so popular.

The codes and conventions of a Festival documentary and any other documentary are the same in

the way in which people are interviewed. Pictured above is Matt stocks, the radio DJ from

KERRANG! and Nick Waring, a Music Student and Band member. Both have been positioned one

side of the screen making sure there is as little empty space above them and that the side with the

most space if filled with something appropriate to the documentary. For instance Matt Stocks is

pictured next to his DJ technology to really sell to the audience that he is a DJ and heavily involved in

music. If he was pictured in front of a blank screen the effect would be nowhere near as powerful.

Whereas Nick Waring is pictured next to an Apple Mac which would imply that he could be working

on music. This isnt as effective as the interview with Matt Stocks as the background is not as

interesting but it is much more effective than interviewing them in front of a blank screen.

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Phil Harrison

TV Documentary: The NME Story

Another TV Documentary I looked at was Inky Fingers, The NME Story. Given the name of the

Documentary you would presume it is about the music industry and how NME became a big music

magazine. Therefore you would expect to see specific codes and conventions. For example various

interviews with people involved with NME and the music industry and magazine industry. Also you

would expect to hear music that would be promoted in the magazine as background music to relate

to the magazine.

As pictured below the Documentary includes an interview with a previous employee of NME from

the seventies and early eighties when NME really started to become a force in music magazines.

They have interviewed him because as he was involved in NME he will have an interesting opinion to

the audience. This is important as the audience needs to be interested in a documentary to want to

watch. Therefore by getting previous employees to be interviewed they are given the audience a

deeper insight into how NME became so successful.

Also Chris Salewicz, is interviewed correctly as he is to one side of the screen and the empty space is

filled with something musical which is relevant to the documentary being about a music magazine.

There is another interview with a former worker of NME who unlike the first interview, he is

interviewed more informal as can be seen from the image below. This is done as it represents that

even some of the workers at NME were rock music fans. And that he is living the stereotypical rock

life. As proved by the fact he is being interviewed in a vest and in his house with no professionalism

and a laid back attitude. The effect of this code of the documentary is that it will intrigue the

audience to continue watching as they would be interested in the rock lifestyle as they would of had

to be a fan of rock music to buy the magazine in the first place as that is the market that it is aimed

at.

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Phil Harrison

A2 Student Documentary: Dying to be thin

I also looked at another Student Documentary entitled Dying to be thin. From the title of the

documentary you would expect to see specific codes and conventions to do with health and diets.

This means you would expect to see interviews with different experts in food and both mental and

physical health experts. Furthermore you might expect to see background music related to weight

however if the documentary is trying to warn people of the dangers of trying to make themselves

thin my not eating properly then it might have more serious background music to show that it is

meant to be taken more seriously. Also you would expect to see different facts and statistics about

peoples weight etc.

The documentary begins with various different pictures of thin celebrities. This in in keeping with the

code and conventions of showing images about health as some would argue that they are too thin

and are putting their body in danger by eating the way they do (Pictured below, Left). Then thedocumentary shows a fact up on screen in white writing in front of a black background possibly to

show that it is an important point. It states that in America a size 0 is equivalent to a UK size 4.

(Pictured below, Right.)

In terms of background music, it isnt related to weight of food and although it is present it is very

quiet and isnt very noticeable. Furthermore it is up beat music which doesnt fit to the codes and

conventions of this documentary being a serious one and touching on a serious topic. Although the

documentary doesnt have any interviews with clothing representatives, they do receive feedback

from JNs store manager. This is in keeping with the codes and conventions of the documentary as it

is professional feedback from a respected person in the clothing industry.