Voiceover

The voiceover will usually be authoritative, and will encourage the audience to think that they have some kind of specialist knowledge; examples include:

<!-Michael Moore

<!-Nick Broomfield

They have “the right” opinion that people should pay attention to, and agree with. They are the ‘voice of god’.

‘Real’ footage of events

Documentaries are essentially seen as non-fiction, documentaries often got o great lengths to convince the audience that the footage is real and raw. However, editing and voiceover can effect and manipulate the ‘reality’ we, as viewers, see.  This is a form of mediation, where institutions edit in order to influence and induce the audience. For example, Lehni Reifenstahl mediates propaganda documentary, ‘Triumph of the will’ in order to portray Adolf Hitler as a man of power and strength.

Archive footage/stills- too add to authenticity and to add further information which the film maker may be unable to obtain themselves

Five modes of documentary typical conventions

Expository:

<!-Voiceover addresses audience directly

<!-‘Voice of god’ (heard but not seen)

<!-Images use to illustrate

<!-Editing used for continuity- linking images to support arguments.

Documentary conventions- observational mode:

<!-Location shooting- handheld cameras

<!-Long take dominate

<!-Synchronous (direct) sound recording

<!-No voice over (n it purest form)

<!-No interviews

<!-Subjects pretend they are not being filmed

Participatory (also referred to as interactive):

<!-Documentary maker (and crew) interact with subject

<!-Interviews dominate but tend to be formal literally ‘on the run’ questioning

<!-Use of archive material

<!-Location shooting- handheld cameras

<!-Documentary maker is visible to the audience- intervenes and participates in the action

<!-Louis Theroux, Michael Moore  

Reflexive documentary:

<!-Borrows techniques form fiction form an emotional, subjective response

<!-Voiceover usually questioning and uncertain – rather than authoritative

<!-Reliance on suggestion rather than fact

Performance mode:

-Documentary maker comments on the process of making the documentary

-The documentary is often shaped into the narrative of an investigation of an investigation or search, which there may be no satisfactory conclusion to

- Direct and emotional address

-Subject to do with identity – rather than ‘factual’ subject