Genre, genre, genre

 Hello! In order to effectively develop this portfolio project, I must have a clear understanding the genre conventions regarding documentaries. For this reason, I conducted research about documentary genre conventions. Take a look at what I found:

Genre: Documentary

    Conventions include:

• Handheld Camera Shots to develop a sense of realism 

• One subject is often the topic

• Interviews with experts or participants in the topic

• Narrative Voiceover to lead the audience through the topics of the documentary

• Documentaries highlight an aspect of culture, thus fusing opinion and subjectivity together

• Use of Parallel Editing to link key scenes

• Use of Archive footage to support filmed scenes

• Achieve a variety of different purposes, including to entertain, inform, educate, or shock viewers

• Selective editing to develop purpose and meaning within the piece

• Use of establishing shots and close-ups (interviews)

• Can be observational, interactive, reflexive, or expository in format

    Documentary Subgenres: Documentaries come in many formats, each constructed in a way that works to achieve a specific purpose. Documentary subgenres include:

• Observational- Aims to record everyday life without intrusion; fly-on-the-wall filmmaking
• Sociological Explanation- Explains aspects of life in order to inform or persuade. 
• Expose- Pushes audience to reflect on their perceptions and rethink their idea of truth.
• Nature-Presents animals and other aspects of nature for the viewer's pleasure.
• Mockumentary- Critiques current events, modern society, human lifestyles; resembles a real documentary
• Commentary/opinion- Discuss a topic in order to persuade viewers to believe a certain perception of truth.
• Biography- Discuss the life of a historical person; attempt to comprehensively explain a person's life story.

Documentaries- A slice of life

Documentaries are products that illustrate an aspect of daily life. While some documentaries have more fictional undertones, a majority of documentary productions discuss a real-world topic in an informational manner. For example, Explained, my case study, discusses a variety of general topics in order to convey the informative side of an aspect of society. From music to E-sports, the purpose of an episode of Explained is to document a slice of life and present the information in an informative way for the viewer. For my series, I am discussing national parks and illustrating the topic in a way that will inspire viewers to care for them. I plan on doing this by highlighting the national park in the modern day in each episode. By showing how modern issues like climate change and deforestation are harming the parks, I will inspire them to want to make changes in their behavior to protect these parks.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for more!