1. Conventions of TV
Documentaries
Shahna Pinnock
The purpose of this assignment is to find
out the conventions of documentaries in
order for me to use, challenge and
develop them in my own documentary.

2. Conventions of Documentary
• Voiceovers Examples of a
• Real footage handheld camera and
presenters.
• Technicality of realism
• Archival footage
• Interviews with experts
• Use of texts/titles
• Sound
• Set ups (Re-enactments)
• Visual coding's
• Talking Heads
• Jiggly Camera

3. •
TV Documentaries
These shots show how TV Documentaries use the conventions. I have used the
examples of Frozen Planet and The Growing Pains of a Teenage Genius.
Animations are around the boy Many TV Documentaries The use of real people
emphasising the topic of the use montage to show creates feelings from the
documentary. They are also images from the past or audience and follows the
text/titles. current event. conventions.
Real life situations. Here the
mum is in her familiar setting, this
shows realism.

4. Frozen Planet (TV Documentary)
This is a TV documentary which is about animals,
although it is not based on humans they still use the same
conventions.
Real animals (people) are used in this documentary.
People are also shown while filming which is Real footage and locations are
challenging a convention. used.
Titles are similar to the topic of the
documentary e.g. the colour
matches the colour of the wolf and
the ‘Frozen Planet’ title.

5. Film Documentaries VS TV Documentaries
Film Documentaries TV Documentaries
• The conventions in film • The conventions in
documentaries is similar to documentaries is to usually
TV Documentaries have a presenter and
however in film voiceovers, the presenter
documentaries their re- does not usually get
enactments may be more involved in experiments.
dramatic and exaggerated
for entertainment.

6. Film Documentaries
• The Cove and I For India
The Cove is a film documentary about an
area in Japan called Taiji, where they kill
a large amount of Dolphins and sell them
as Whale Meat.
Interviewees telling their opinion. At the
bottom there is a description of who he is,
also a convention of a documentary.
I For India is a film documentary about
a family who have moved to England
from India and all their struggles and
happiness throughout their lives.

7. Similarities of TV and Film Documentaries
• There are many conventions which both TV and Film
Documentaries use such as jiggly camera, real footage and
statistics.
Statistics to provide facts
and evidence on the topic.
Jiggly camera to These statistics are from I
emphasise realness. For India where they have
This image is from used images and colour to
The Cove show ethnic minorities in
the past in England..
Real footage to create realism and
provide factual evidence. In The
Cove they have used archival
footage.

8. Differences in Film and TV Documentaries
• However due to different audiences and purposes there are also
differences in how film and TV documentaries use conventions.
The use of a presenter to inform audience.
In many TV documentaries I have watched in the
past, I’ve noticed a few have presenters however
more recently there has been a decrease in the
use of a presenter and an increase of the ‘voice
of God’.
Film documentaries have
a written conclusion at
the end.
Re-enactments may be
exaggerated for
entertainment.

9. Why the documentaries use different conventions
• TV and Film documentary use different conventions due to the
platform they are being shown on e.g. Films re-enactments may
be exaggerated for entertainment purposes due to a film being
longer so they do not want their audience to loose interest.

10. How do the documentaries use, develop and challenge conventions
USE
The Cove have used voiceovers
when showing images.
Interviews of those close to who
the documentary is based on.
(The growing pains of a teenage
genius)
DEVELOP
Titles next to a real person
to show what their life is
about.
Archival footage with
subtitles. This is from I
For India

11. In Frozen Planet parts of the
documentary show how the
documentary was actually filmed
towards the end.
Conclusions in the credits of
what has changed after filming
the documentary. This was
done in The Cove.