1. Documentary Codes and
Conventions.

2. Camerawork
• The use of different shot types is to
keep the audience interested.
• Still cameras are on tripods for stability
• Handheld camerawork is used for
footage where it’s necessary to give the
element of real life,.
• Pov or point of view shots are used to
position the audience as if they actually
there. So there’s a sense of reality

3. Sound
• There is always a voiceover, this helps
to keep the narative together.
• The narrator is referred to as the voice
of god
• Music sometimes plays as a sound
bed, if it is relevant

4. Editing
• No fancy visual effects should be used
if they are not relevant.
• The interviewer should be edited out
which includes them asking the
questions.
• Cutaways and B-roll footage is used to
keep the flow of the documentary going

5. Rule Of Thirds
• The rule of thirds the idea that an
image should be imagined as divided
into nine equal parts so three equal
boxes and that important
compositional elements should be
placed along these lines ie the eyes
should be on the top corner line
• When the rule of thirds is in interviews
it is normally called the talking head
shot

6. Mise en scene
• Mise en scene is the idea everything in
the shot should be related, so if you are
interviewing a tattooist you should
interview them in a tattoo parlour and
not in a office.
• Mise en scene can be either artificial ie
in the blue screen or in real life