Research into different documentaries, their modes, codes and conventions.

1. Made by BBC Three
DOCUMENTARY
RESEARCH

2. BBC THREE DOCUMENTARIES
• Documentaries made by BBC Three are made to appeal to their
younger audiences, therefore they make them about subjects that
would interest or be relatable to this age range of 16-24.
• These documentaries include “The Instagram Effect”, “Jamie: Drag
Queen at 16”, “When nudes are stolen”, “Transitioning Teens”, “Plastic
Surgery Undressed”, “Tagged”, “Is Uni Racist?” and many more. All
about issues, struggles and experiences that people of this target
audience may have gone through or relate to and how they can be
helped.

3. DOCUMENTARIES
• A documentary is a motion picture (can be a film or a series of
episodes) consisting of interviews, video footage, pictures, voice
overs and re-enactments of true events. They involve real people and
real events, whether the documentary is recalling the events that
happened through secondary or primary footage that they have
collected.
• The purpose of a documentary is to document reality, primarily for the
purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record.
Article
title:
Documentary - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Website
title:
Wikipedia
URL:
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary#:~:text=From%20Simple%20English%20Wikipedia%2C%20the%20
free%20encyclopedia%20A,recording%2C%20such%20as%20a%20movie%20or%20radio%20program.

4. MODES OF DOCUMENTARY FILM
• In 2010 Bill Nichols released a seminal text titled Introduction to Documentary in which he
discussed six different frequently cited sub-genres used in documentary film making,
otherwise know as ‘modes’.
• These six modes were poetic, expository, participatory, observational, reflexive and
performative.
• Poetic was described as non-linear, abstract and lacked a clear narrative thrust and
therefore rely on juxtaposition of images and sound to help create the mood and tone that
they desire. It is said that this mode was most popular during the 1920s. This mode of
documentary means it is quite open to interpretation, however you are more likely to feel a
certain way as certain tones are used and certain things are said to make you feel a certain
way, influencing your emotions, e.g. source of Nazi propaganda to fuel patriotism within
Germany.

5. MODES OF DOCUMENTARY FILM
• Expository was a form of documentary that was also popular during the 1920s. This mode
of documentary contains a clear narrative that is used in a lot of nature documentaries,
including the BBC’s Blue Planet and Planet Earth. In Expository documentaries, interviews,
illustrative visuals, a voice over narrative and sometimes graphics and photographs are
often used. The voice over acts explains to you what the documentary is about and heavily
influences the viewers opinions, as the viewer can only judge their opinion off what the
narrator says, meaning a preferred meaning is constructed, meaning the narration is
possibly not the reality. Overall, the expository mode directs the audience through a means
of emphasised visuals and poetical manipulation to get a particular conclusion.

6. MODES OF DOCUMENTARY FILM
• Participatory mode shows the direct relationship between the filmmaker and the subject of
the documentary. It originated in the 60’s however gained its main popularity in the 80s and
onwards. Successful examples of participatory documentaries include Morgan Spurlock’s
Supersize Me and Louis Theroux’s My Scientology Movie.
• Observational documentaries started in the 60’s and took advantage of smaller cameras
and faster lenses to shoot in low light and attempted to film their subjects with as little
intrusion and intervention as possible. This form of documentary means that audiences are
aren’t guided about what opinions to have on the subject and therefore are able to come up
wit their own conclusions as individuals. It is said that observational documentaries portray a
more accurate representation of reality in comparison to other modes as in these
documentaries the audience is not manipulated by visuals or voice-overs and are just simply
viewing observations that have been subtly recorded (however it is not guaranteed that the
subject didn’t see the cameras and didn't know that they were being recorded)

7. MODES OF DOCUMENTARY FILM
• Reflexive mode evolved during the 1980s with the idea of getting audiences to question
the authenticity of documentary in general. This mode of documentary challenges
assumptions and expectations about the form itself, meaning that often their focus is on the
process of asking the film, how and why it is constructed this way (the behind the scenes).
This mode documents the filmmakers ‘journey’ where this shares the same space as the
films referent elements.
• Performative is the direct opposite of the objective mode, meaning the documentary
emphasises the filmmakers own involvement with the subject. The filmmaker becomes a
personal guide throughout the documentary, showing and telling the journey like it is with
raw emotion.

8. TIGER KING
• An American true crime documentary about the life of convicted felon and former zookeeper, Joe
Exotic and his connections with other conservationists and collectors, such as Carole Baskin.
• On Rotten Tomatoes, series one of Tiger King has a high approval rating of 89%, with an average
rating of 7.88/10. In the first ten days of the show being released on Netflix, it was watched by
34.3 million people.
• The purpose of this documentary is to explore what really happened to Joe Exotic, Carole Baskin
and the animals that were kept in their care, while also showing the abuse that the animals faced
and how change must be made.
• Due to its themes of bad language, animal harm, drug
misuse and violence, the documentary has an age
rating of 15, therefore its desired target audience are
people over this age range who are interested in true
crime and possibly animals.

9. • Voiceover narration
• Video footage and photographs from the past (that was not recorded for the documentary
but document the necessary events)
• Talking heads (people being interviewed about the topic/events that the subject of the
documentary)
• Real people (Joe Exotic, Carole Baskin, people who worked with them, etc.)
TIGER KING – CODES AND CONVENTIONS

10. THE INSTAGRAM EFFECT
• This BBC Three documentary is targeted at BBC Three’s normal
target audience of people aged 16-24.
• The documentary talks about how Instagram works, the influence it
has on people and the people and algorithms behind the platform.
• This documentary also analyses the extreme effects that Instagram has and the impact that
it has on peoples lives, such as how people are living in an artificial world, how social media
takes up so much of peoples time, how they are now struggling to differentiate the different
between real and false, how false social media is, and the negative effects that it now has
on people, especially people who are younger.

11. • Video footage and photographs from the past (that was not recorded for the documentary
but document the necessary events)
• Talking heads (people being interviewed about the topic/events that the subject of the
documentary, specifically past/current employees of Facebook and Instagram as well as
influencers who have high numbers of followers on these platforms)
• Real people (Joe Exotic, Carole Baskin, people who worked with them, etc.)
THE INSTAGRAM EFFECT– CODES AND
CONVENTIONS