Codes and conventions of interviews

After creating a table to show similarities between three different documentaries I studied, I was able to see the codes and conventions of documentaries a lot easier.

• Conventional documentaries use the same camera work in their interviews and almost always use close ups and medium close ups aswell as placing the interviewee to the left or right of the screen. The interviewee always answers the questions to the interviewer and looks past the camera, the questions are cut out of the shots and the answers are put in a format so that they repeat the question in the answer.

• Conventional documentaries use graphics such as chromakey and green screen to create a back drop that links in with the interviewee or the documentary itself. Also names and ocupations are displayed below and to the left of the interviewee and the font is usually white sans serif. The screen shot below shows the name displayed however this doesn't follow convention as the font is specialised to fit in with the simpsons theme.

  

• High key lighting is nearly always used in interviews to ensure that the interviewee can clearly be seen, this can be seen in the screen shot above. However, sometimes low key lighting is used if it fits with the theme and this can be seen in the interview in the screen shot below of the interview from the documentary about Jaws.