Codes and Conventions

There are many codes and conventions of documentaries that we need to be aware of when producing our own. These codes and conventions include:

• Documentaries do not always contain everything that is fact, some of it is usually exaggerated but not all.
• One way which documentaries present their facts are through interviews with specialists on the subject. This is to make the audience believe what they are saying as they are seen as a reliable source.
• Codes and conventions with these interviews are that they are always in mid or close up with the interviewee on one side of the frame looking across the camera and not into it.
• When the interviewee first appears, there will be a title with their name and their profession or relevance to the documentary.
• These titles will be simple so they do not distract from the rest of the documentary.
• The mise-en-scene in these interviews and during the rest of the documentary had been constructed specifically for the documentary so it relates to the subject and what is happening or who the interviewee is.
• Other interviews seen in documentaries are known as Vox Pops where members of the public are asked their opinion on a subject. The same camera rules apply for this but there will be no title.
• There are a variety of different camera angles in documentaries to keep interest and depending on the action happening, for example, close ups are used to draw the audience's attention to a point being made and full shots are sometimes used in reconstructions to show the audience all of the information needed.
• Reconstructions are sometimes used in documentaries so that the audience can understand what the documentary is talking about and also to show the viewer any essential information.
• For example, in Madeleine Was Here, the reconstruction is used in a plea for any witnesses.
• Many documentaries are known as being mixed. This means that a combination of cutaways, voiceovers, reconstructions and interviews are used to keep the documentary exciting and different to keep the audience interested in the topic and so that it appeals to a wider audience.
• Another code and convention of documentaries is the use of relevant cutaways. These add excitement to the documentary and are generally used to back up a point that is made by the interviewee.
• Voiceovers are also used when relevant to explain footage as well as continue with a point being made in an interview.
• Voiceovers are also used as a way to present facts to the audience about the topic of the documentary or to describe the events of a particular event or day.
• Other sound used in documentaries include the natural sound of the environment where footage, such as interviews, have been filmed and non-diegetic of music is also used to create an emotion or to link to the footage being shown.
• One code and convention is that not all of the footage will have been filmed when creating the documentary. Some of it will be archive material meaning that they have sourced the footage from other places in order to get a wider perspective on the subject of the documentary and to show more than one side to it.
• The conventional narrative structure of a documentary is one that begins with an exposition or something short and exciting to attract the audience's attention straight away and make them want to continue watching.
• Every documentary will have a clear title sequence at the beginning showing the name of the documentary. This same title will re-appear if there are advert breaks in the documentary before the adverts and as it is about to continue after the advert break.
• The middle of a documentary will usually include the main bulk of the information and can possibly conflict the audience's opinion on the subject before watching the documentary.
• The end of the documentary is mostly clear nowadays with full explanation of the subject and answering any questions that the audience may have had whilst watching the documentary.
• Some of them however, may have an unclear ending though this is not regularly seen anymore as it leaves the audience unsatisfied and wondering why they have watched the rest of it, only to be none the wiser on the subject at the end.

Types of Documentary

There are six different types of documentaries, poetic documentaries, expository documentaries, observational documentaries, participatory documentaries, reflexive documentaries and performative documentaries. These are described further below.

Poetic Documentaries
This type of documentary was first established during the 1920's as a response to early fiction films. They did not follow continuity editing but order images in terms of associations and patters, time and space. There were no characters in them but people appeared as individuals just like any other person in the world. These fiction films were disconnected, vague and yet poetic. Their disruption of the logistics of time and space, logic that was preferred by fiction films at the time, could also be thought of as the new version of cinematic narratives. The 'real world', also known as the 'historical world' was fragmented and then reconstructed to provide a fictional film, a documentary. Poetic documentaries focused on aesthetically pleasing images rather than a typical linear structure. This type of documentary is often used when presented facts about artists such as dancers.

Expository Documentaries
This type of documentary are targeted specifically at the viewer by talking directly to them through the use of a reliable commentary or voiceover with titles which propose a strong view about a certain subject. This type of documentary are used when trying to persuade the viewer, for example, Loose Change would be considered as expository. They sometimes use a rich and booming male voice to put their point of view across. The voiceover is often full of knowledge and sounds objective. There are no principal images but they are used to reinforce an argument in order to persuade the audience. The language used constantly attempts to make the audience analyse the images in a certain way. When an historical documentary uses the expository mode, it will be doing so to show us one interpretation of the past event rather than providing the audience with all of the facts and allowing them to have their own opinion.

Observational Documentaries
These documentaries are simply just an study of lived life without too much interference with the subject. Producers who follow this mode feel that poetic documentaries are too abstract and expository documentaries are too educational. The first observational documentaries were in the 1960's when developments in technology made it possible to use lightweight cameras as well as portable sound equipment for coordinating sound. This type of documentary often avoided the use of a voiceover, music and reconstructions. The aim of observational documentaries is for a quick understanding and disclosure of a character in everyday life situations.

Participatory Documentaries
These documentaries believed that you could film an event without influencing or scripting the event for the camera. They imitate what anthropologists practice, participant observation. The director is part of the documentary giving the audience an idea of how the footage has been affected by the presence of the director and a camera. According to Bill Nichols, an American historian and theoretician of documentaries, "The filmmaker steps out from behind the cloak of the voiceover commentary, steps away from poetic meditation, steps down from a fly-on-the-wall perch, and becomes a social actor (almost) like any other. (Almost like any other because the filmmaker retains the camera, and with it, a certain degree of potential power and control over events.)" The relationship between the filmmaker and the subject becomes a principal theme of the documentary. Edgar Morin, a French philosopher and sociologist, and Jean Rouch, a French filmmaker and anthropologist, founded cinéma vérité (truthful cinema) in response to this type of film making. The saying refers to the documentary showing the truth of an encounter rather than the absolute truth.

Reflexive Documentaries
This type of documentary is not seen as an obvious presentation of the world but focus on their own construction and the way it is represented. One question which can be asked to sum up this type of documentary is, 'How does the world get represented by documentaries?' These documentaries make the audience think about the accuracy of documentaries in general, making it the most self conscious of all the different types. It is very doubtful of realism. Reflexive documentaries may use the alienation techniques of Bertolt Brecht, a German poet, playwright and theatre director, to shock us and to make what we see and how we see it feel strange and unusual.

Performative Documentaries
These emphasise subjective experiences and the emotional response to the world. They are extremely personal and unconventional to other documentary types. They are slightly poetic and experimental, possibly including theoretical reconstructions to make the audience feel what it could feel like to gain a certain perspective to the world that you would not normally have. This type of documentaries might reach out to certain groups of people, for example, women, ethnic minorities, homosexuals etc. allowing them to talk about themselves. They are often a mixture of different techniques from fiction or avant-garde films. Promising documents often draw links between personal accounts or experiences and bigger political or historical events.

Brainstorming Ideas

MIND MAP OF TEN INITIAL IDEAS

CLOSE UPS OF ABOVE MIND MAP

Our first 10 ideas were:

1) Shopping

2) Exercise/diet

3) Beauty products

4) Dance

5) Sports

6) Public transport

7) Teaching

8) Warrington/North West

9)Hairdressing

10) Wild animals/Zoo

Our top 3 ideas were:

1) Sports

2) Teaching

3) Beauty products

Our original idea for the sports documentary was to explore sports teams in Warrington such as the rugby team and teams from schools and colleges as well as focusing on alternative sports such as free running and rowing. We also had the idea of combining two of the other ideas into sport, diet and exercise and dancing. This documentary will be shown on Channel 4 at 20:00.

For a teaching documentary we felt that we could look at different teaching styles for different age groups and film some PTA meetings as well as classes and opinions from students and have interviews with Headteachers. We felt that this documentary would be best suited on BBC2, at 6:00 in the morning as most teaching programmes are aired early morning.

The beauty products documentary would include advice from experts and members of the public testing products for a week to see which they like the best. We could also research into stores such as Boots and Superdrug who sell beauty products and have their own beauty consultants. This documentary would also be scheduled to be shown on Channel 4 at 20:00.



In the end, we decided to do our documentary on sports, focusing on alternative sports rather than the usual football and rugby.

MIND MAP OF OUR MAIN IDEA - ALTERNATIVE SPORTS

Having thought about all of the sports ideas we could choose form, we have decided to do our documentary on one section of sports on the above mind map, Free Running. We chose this because it is an alternative sport that is not very well known, so a documentary on this subject could investigate elements such as training and possible injuries that could be caused and the safety and skills required. We thought about who we could interview and decided on attempting to talk to experts and as well as members of a Free Running team and trainers. One idea was to follow or shadow one of the members to gain a true insight to this alternative sport.

MIND MAP OF THE SECTION WE ARE FOCUSING ON

Target Audience Research

QUESTIONNAIRE

1) Male __ Female __

2) Under 16 __ 16-20 __ 21+ __

3) What is your favourite television channel?

BBC1 __ BBC2 __ ITV1 __ Channel 4 __ Five __ Other ........................

4) What time do you normally watch television?

Before 4pm __ 4-6pm __ 6-8pm __ 8-10pm __ After 10pm __

5) How often do you watch documentaries?

Regularly __ Weekly __ Every few weeks __ Once a month __ Yearly __ Never __

Other ....................

6) Do you exercise?

Yes__ No __

7) How often do you exercise?

Daily __ Once a week __ Less than once a week __ Never __ Other ....................

8) What do you do to exercise?

...........................................................................................................................

9) Would you be interested in alternative sports?

Yes __ No __ Maybe __

10) Are you aware of the concept of Free Running/Parkour?

Very well __ Well __ Slightly __ Not sure __ Not at all __

11) Would you be interested to learn about it?

Yes __ No __ Maybe __

12) Do you or anyone you know participate in this sport?

Yourself __ Family __ Friend __ None__


FILMED RESPONSES





RESULTS OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE

(Numbers shown are the number of people who chose the answer e.g. 13 females and 17 males)


Our first question for the questionnaire, as you can see above, was the gender of the person who was completing it. This pie chart shows that we asked 17 males and 13 females in order to gain reliable information for our documentary by asking people of both sexes. We asked the opinions of a few more males than females as we feel that our documentary will appeal more to men than women.

Secondly, we asked for ages so we could see what would appeal to different age groups. again we have asked more people from one group as they will be our target audience. We asked two under 16 year olds, twenty one 16-20 year olds and seven people who were 21 years old or over. We chose to ask a few under 16 year olds to gain an idea if it would be something that that age group would be interested in. We asked more people who were over 21 as it is such a large age group it included people's opinions from many different ages.

In order to back up our opinion about the best channel to air our documentary on, one of our questionnaire questions was about their favourite television channel. As you can see from the pie chart above, there are nine people who have chosen channel 4 which is more than any other channel. ITV1 and Other channels were next with 6 and 7 respectively. Other channels included Dave, Sky Sports and E4.

The fourth question was about when people normally watch television so that we can schedule the documentary so that most people will get to see it. The results for this question were that the same people who watched either Channel 4 or E4, watch the television between 8pm and 10pm, allowing us to decide on a suitable time. Nobody out of the 30 people that we asked watched television before 4pm meaning that this would not be a good time to put the documentary on. This number was so low due to people still being in work or potentially school or college. More people watched television between the hours of 6pm to after 10pm. this is because the work and college days have finished and most people are at home where they can watch the television. One person who we interviewed said that she generally watches television later on in the evening after all of the jobs were finished. This is why 13 people watch television between 8pm and 10pm meaning that this would be the peak time for our documentary to be scheduled for. Only seven people said that they watched television after 10pm as this is when the majority of people are starting to think about going to bed.

How often do you watch documentaries? This was our next question so that we would know if we would be against any other documentary and if our target audience even watched them. As you can see above, the largest number of people watch documentaries weekly (10 people) or if not weekly then regularly (7 people). Within these people are the majority of the 16-20 year olds or the people over 21 which is our target audience. Therefore, our target audience does watch documentaries regularly.

Do you exercise? was the next big question as if our target audience doesn't exercise because they don't enjoy sports then the idea for our documentary would not appeal to our target audience. However, the results of the questionnaire showed that only eight people didn't exercise and twenty two people did meaning that sports are still appealing to our target audience.

This question was to see how often people did exercise so that we could possibly use the statistic in the voice over for our documentary as well as seeing how active people were. A third of the people asked exercise daily and just under a third never exercise.

What people do to exercise was a question of ours so that we could see how many people already did an alternative sport. As you can see above, no one out of the 30 people asked currently take part in an alternative sport of any kind. However, as the name suggests, Free Running, people who currently run or jog when they exercise may be interested to learn about it and the one person who does gymnastics may be to because of the acrobatic side to the sport.

This question was again another important one for the topic of our documentary. Thankfully, 24 people said that they would either definitely interested in learning about alternative sports or might be but only 6 people said that they wouldn't be interested at all, not including 2 of the people who said that they did not exercise who said that they might be interested in it.

This question was to give us an idea of how much people already knew about the sport. as you can see, only a few people know what the sport is very well and the majority of the results are people saying that they know nothing at all about the sport, aren't sure what it is or have some idea about it. This is a good thing though because the job of a documentary is to inform people about the subject so hopefully after watching a documentary on Free running, we will have raised awareness of what the sport is.

To follow on from the previous question, it is important to find out if people actually want to learn about it. Only six people said that they would not but these were six people who don't exercise. 24 people out of our target audience, however, said that they would be interested to learn about Free Running. This hopefully means that they would enjoy watching a documentary on the subject which will follow free runners and explore the different ways of training.

As our final question, we thought it would be interesting to see how many people actually known someone who takes part in the sport. 1 of the people who we asked said that they took part in the sport themselves whereas 25 people said that they knew no one. This shows that it is not a very well known sport and that not many people take part in it yet. This could all change though as alternative sports are getting more and more widespread with more people wanting to start exercising in a fun way.

Initial Plans

We have chosen to do a documentary on alternative sports, focusing on FREE RUNNING. Our target audience will be of a fairly young age, mainly teenagers aged between 16 and 20, both male and female. We chose this target audience because we felt that they would be more eager to learn about a new sport and are also more likely to be interested inn a sport such as free running.

The channel that will broadcast our documentary will be Channel 4 as they are well known for airing documentaries on all topics. For example, two documentaries which I analysed, Madeleine Was Here and Miracle on Hudson River, were both part of the Channel 4 documentary series. Our questionnaire allowed us to realise that this channel was the majority of our target audience's favourite channel. We also felt that Channel 4 would be the best channel for our documentary as this channel appeals to all ages, even those who we are not addressing as our target audience.

Our questionnaire also helped us to agree on a time for our documentary to be scheduled for. The results showed that our target audience, 16-20 year olds, usually watch television between 8pm and 10pm. Therefore, we have decided for our documentary to be aired at 9pm until 10pm. This way, our target audience will be watching television so are more likely to watch the documentary as they will be flicking through channels to find something to watch. This timing is also before any dramas are on television but after popular programmes on other channels, such as Coronation Street on ITV1, have finished.

Therefore, our free running documentary will be broadcast on Channel 4 at 21:00 and is targeted at 16-20 year olds.

Research for Documentary

WHAT IS FREE RUNNING?

Free Running is a form of urban acrobatics that is performed outside. Free runners use structures in the city or rural landscapes to create their movements. through combining moves from Parkour and other acrobatics and stunts, an energetic and pleasing way of moving is created. It can be practiced either in gyms or outside in urban areas where there are many obstacles that can be used. Although there are some similarities between Free Running and Parkour, they are two separate sports with Parkour being heavily disciplined and Free Running explores the freedom of movement. However, it is obvious that free running was inspired by Parkour. The object of Free Running or Parkour is to aim for speed and efficieny. A practitioner of Parkour, a Traceur for a male or a Traceuse for a female, will train to develop skills that will allow them to move efficiently to overcome obstacles whether they are urban or rural. Their goal is to be able move in any situation so Free Running could be applied in life-thretening situations. It becomes a natural movement to them that they want to perform everywhere without thinking about it.



WHO CREATED FREE RUNNING?

Sébastien Foucan was the creator of Free Running. He defines Free Running as "discipline to self development, following your own way." He created Free Running as he felt that Parkour was too disciplined lacking creativity and self expression. He has appeared in the James Bond film, Casino Royale, performing Free Running stunts at the beginning of the film.

WHAT MOVEMENTS ARE INCLUDED?

Specific Free Running movements are difficult to identify as they are a combination of Parkour movements and street stunts. Street stunts are performed off a high level building or wall or on flat surfaces depending on where it is being practiced. Free Running focuses on the freedom to move and make it look graceful involving movements off obstacles, moving from one place to another. There is no limit to the moves that a Free Runner can perform and the interpretation of the movement can change too depending on the person who is observing.
Some basic movements which are associated with Free Running rather than Parkour include:

- Reverse Kong Vault - Instead of vaulting over a railing with a Monkey Vault, which may be the most efficient way, the athlete adds a 360 degree spin along the horizontal axis to make the movement more aesthetically pleasing, as well as increasing their coordination.

- Diving Frontflip/ Eagle Flip - A frontflip is executed over a wall or other obstacle, usually with a large drop on the other side. It is referred to as a diving frontflip (or dive front) because the athlete is required to dive over the obstacle before initiation the tuck.

- 360 Wallrun - This is similar to the Wallrun in Parkour, in which the athlete runs at a tall wall and pushes against the wall with their foot to propel themselves up the wall. The only difference between this movement and the 360 Wallrun is that the 360 degree spin is carried out after kicking opp the wall and before grabbing the top of the wall.

- Wall Spin - This is an advanced form of the Palm Spin. The athlete runs to a wall, jumps places both hands on the wall, and vertically rotates 360 degrees while remaining in contact with the wall. Pushing off with one hand helps the rotation.

- Wing Spin - This is basically a one handed wall spin. The non-contact hand and arm is spread away from the wall, much like a wing.

- Wall Flip - The athlete runs to a wall, places a foot on it, and does a back flip off the wall.

- Broken Arm Spin - This is a wall spin in which the athlete rotates around the top arm, or arm closest to the wall. Essentially a Wing Spin done with the opposite arm rotating in a backwards motion rather than a forward one.

For videos of the above movements and more information, visit http://www.urbanfreeflow.com/

http://www.msn.co.uk/

The image below was taken from the MSN Homepage when they had an article on dangerous things to do.

POSSIBLE ARCHIVE MATERIAL

Source: http://www.youtube.com/

FREE RUNNING GONE WRONG:



This archive shot shows that Free Running can go wrong and if it does then it can be seriously dangerous. This clip is not very good quality however, so we will probably not be able to use it.

BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT FREE RUNNERS:


This clip from the ITV show, Britain's Got Talent, was filmed in 2007. Programmes like this as well as films, are contributing to the rise in popularity for Free Running.

TOP GEAR FREE RUNNING RACE:



The BBC programme, Top Gear, is another example of Free Running becoming more popular, especially in the world of media. This extract from a 2006 episode and sees two Free Runners, Danial Ilabaca and John 'Kerbie' Kerr, racing through Liverpool to reach the Liver Building first. The programme shows the Free Runners winning the race, however, according to Free Running Wiki (www.streetstunts.net/wiki), the race did not actually take part and was filmed in sections with the use of crash mats for the Ilabaca and Kerr.

DAMIEN WALTERS FOOTAGE:











Damien Walters is a stuntman, gymnastics coach and free runner from Derby. He has been ranked as 4th best in the world at one point and won the World Championships with the Great Britain tumbling team as well as the European Championships. He first became interested in gymnastic at the age of 4 or 5 meaning he has had about 25 years training. It is suggested that he is currently training for up to 4 hours a day to stay at this high standard. As described in the news report above, it was Walters' 2007 showreel which Jackie Chan's agent saw which started his career as a stuntman.

SEBASTIEN FOUCAN:



This is the clip from Casino Royale, as mentioned before.



This is video is an interview in a documentary style with Sebastien Foucan that is off the UrbanFreeflow.com channel on YouTube. It explains what Free Running/Parkour is and talks to Foucan about what he feels when he performs the movements and teaching people to get into th sport. It is based in Paris where it first began so is very relevant for our topic for the documentary.

Running Order

INITIAL DRAFT OF TIMELINE





FINAL DRAFT OF TIMELINE



RUNNING ORDER