Research into Existing Products

Documentary:
Analyse the codes and conventions of a documentary film. You should comment on the following, along with any other points you feel are relevant:

1) What TV Channel it's broadcast on?

2) What is the Title of the Documentary?

3) What type of Documentary is it?

• Historical: The Rise and Fall of the Egyptian Empire
• Biographical: The Life of Sir Stanley Matthews
• Investigative: The truth behind the disappearance of Madeline McCann
• Artistic: The work of Van Gogh and The story of Mona Lisa
• Wildlife: The anatomy of the Blue Whale
• Political: The New Labour years
• Drama Documentaries: Margaret Thatcher
• Reality TV: The Kardashians and Peter Andre The Next Chapter
• Celebrity: David Beckham's new tattoo
• Scripted Reality: TOWIE (The Only Way is Essex)  

CCTV is the most realistic and reliable type of reality TV.

4) What Style of Documentary is it? Think in terms of:

• Narrative Structure: Linear/Non-Linear (in order/not in order)
• Editing: Fast, slow, dissolves, fades, superimposing
• Voice-overs: Narration, register, tone, mode of address
• Archive Footage: Type, style, place, time-period
• Graphics: Pie charts, images
• Text: Captions, subtitles, banners
• Music: Songs, instrumental, ambient

5) What is the Subject matter/ Content of the documentary?

6) What are the Messages and meanings behind the documentary - What is it trying to communicate to the audience?