Codes and Conventions of a Documentary

This refers to the types of codes that can be seen within a media text and the types of codes that can be broken down and analysed. They can be separated into three dissimilar groups - technical codes which refers to camera techniques and shots used, symbolic codes that are used for signified or conventional effect and written/audio codes that also add to the media text.

A Documentary film is a category of visual expressions from the characters included that are based on the attempt to "document" reality. The scenes of this may be edited carefully to be arranged in a particular way but are mainly based on the truth. It is not scripted and the people included in the films are usually not actors. Documentaries are always themed or have one main subject base. The characteristics of a documentary are how it has been constructed. it may include facts and statistics that are used to grab the audience's interests. Voice overs and pieces to camera may also be included. Interviews are included to give a person's opinion or point of view. These are usually given from an "expert in the field's " point of view" or "vox pops" where the voices of the regular people are included. Archive footage are clips for the documentary that are specific for that theme. Reconstructed clips may also be used if real footage is not available or if the identities of people need to be protected. This types are clips are usually used in such crime documentaries. Before 1926 the term documentary had not been coined and said films were known as "actuality" films.

Main Documentary Styles
There are various main styles or genres of documentary films, these may vary according to director or how he/she may want their documentary to be presented. The classic type of documentary often called "expository" documentary is purely aimed to inform the audience. John Gierson's "Night Mail" did just that in 1936 which was the main style at the time. The 70's and 80's brought forth the "fly on the wall" documentary style where cameras had been brought into people's homes and workplaces. The events of this type of doc are seen candidly with no hidden aspects. This type of style can be seen in Roger Graef's "The Police" (1982). Some directors may choose to be a main feature or star in their documentary, especially if they feel their subject base is important to them. This type of style came around in the 80's and 90's and is known as performance or the directors as performers. Michael Moore and Nick Broomfield used this style in their own documentaries, recently Moore's "Bowling for Columbine" (2002) and Broomfield's "The Selling of a Serial Killer" (2003).
Documentaries have been known to increase television ratings where the first hybrids came along. Directors often crossed over current genres of documentaries and formed new ones. For example soap operas and documentaries have been crossed creating what is known as a "mock documentary" or "mockumentary". This creates a comedy genre of doc commonly used for parody and satire. Some are presented in a documentary type form that is actually fictional. "The Office" (2005) is a classic example of this. There is also a current phase of hybrids within docs where soap meets game show and even talk show; this has led to a definite increase in ratings. Some documentaries are predominately known for their serious investigating, similar to expository type docs although investigative docs tend to be associated with TV with aims to investigate issues that relate to the public. The generally convey a particular point of view about the issues they investigate. For example: politics, crime, etc. "Panorama" current affairs documentary adopts this style. Documentaries often vary amongst themes from: Biographical to Reality TV which makes them the very diverse.