The document analyzes the codes and conventions used in professional documentaries that were influential on the student's own documentary about shoes. It discusses following a single-subject exposition, using a mixed format with both cutaways and voiceover, focusing on the main theme of shoes with minor supporting themes. Interviews were shot in a medium close-up using rules of thirds and without direct eye contact with the camera. Graphics identified interviewees and cutaways advanced the theme. Mise-en-scene and location reinforced the themes. Straight cuts were used to edit together with relevant music to support the voiceover without interfering.

1. Question 1
Codes and Conventions of my Media
Documentary

2. After watching a series of professional documentaries and analysing the codes and
conventions, we chose to follow them when making our documentary. We watched
‘The Devil Made Me Do It’, ‘ The Music Biz’ and ‘That Thing: Lara Croft’, which are all
professional documentaries. These are all single stranded documentaries with one line
of exposition which is conventional for the documentary we created.

3. Type of Documentary
The documentary we produced was mixed, this was
because it contained observations from the cutaways and
narration from the voice over. There is a variety of
different elements in the documentary which makes it
mixed. Evidence of this is shown through the use of both
cutaways and voice over , which are present in most
documentaries.

4. Themes
The main theme of our documentary is shoes.
There are also minor themes of the changing
fashions and styles of shoes over the years and
how shoes can damage or be beneficial to your
feet. This is similar to ‘The Devil Made Me Do It’
documentary that we analysed. This had the
main theme of the murders in Italy and how
Marilyn Manson's music may have caused this
but also minor themes of how music in general
can influence and affect teenagers.

5. Interviews
After watching professional documentaries and making a list of the codes and conventions we have
tried to follow them closely in our own documentary. We have used the rule of thirds
convention, where the person is in the right or left hand part of the screen and their eye line is a
third of the way down the screen. We have shot the interviews in a medium close up.

6. We made sure that the
interviewee was not looking
directly at the camera which is
a convention of documentary
interviews. The interviewee is
looking diagonally across the
screen at the interviewer, who
is never in the shot and sits
beside the camera.

7. Graphics
We used graphics to tell the audience who is being
interviewed and what their role is. Professional
documentaries do his also, here is an interview
Marilyn Manson and his name is in the corner of the
screen. They are generally white sans serif
font., which is shown at the bottom of the screen. If
the interviewee is positioned on the left hand of the
screen the graphic will be on the right hand side, as
demonstrated here.

8. Mise-en-Scene
Mise-en-Scene is very important to an
interview, it reinforces who the person
is being interview and why they are
being interviewed. It also helps to
anchor the themes and topics of the
documentary. This is demonstrated in
our documentary in the Dr Martens
store, behind Grace are some of the
products they sell and she is seated on
a couch in the middle of the store.
It is also shown here in The Devil Made
Me Do It. The Italian girls parents are
seated on their couch at home, to
reinforce the idea that they are just
normal people.
The Devil Made Me Do It.

9. Cutaways
Cutaways are another important part of a
documentary. Cutaways prevent jump cuts in
the filming which can make the documentary
look unprofessional. The convention for
editing the documentaries is to use straight
cuts. Cutaways demonstrate further the
theme of the documentary and lead into the
next item in the documentary.
The Dr Marten boots are an example
of a cutaway we filmed, the other
picture is a cutaway from That Thing:
Lara Croft.

10. Editing
We followed the conventions when editing the
documentary. We used quick straight cuts, this ensures that
the audience does not loose interest in the documentary.
Like in professional documentaries the use of camerawork
and editing keeps the documentary interesting and draws
the audience in.

11. Sound
For the voiceover we used an adult female, who was well spoken and used
Standard English. This made the documentary seem more professional.
The music in out documentary was relevant to the subject, we used the
song ‘New Shoes’ by Paolo Nutini for the title sequence and the song
‘Shoes’ by Liam Sullivan (internet sensation) under the voice over ,this
helped anchor the theme further. In the professional documentaries we
looked at they used relevant and appropriate music for the
themes, Marilyn Manson was played in The Devil Made Me Do It and
Meatloaf was played in Music Biz:The Marketing of Meatloaf. We made
sure that the songs were appropriate and that they did not interfere with
the voiceover.