LO2: Following the Style and Conventions of the Documentary Genre

Video
The footage in my documentary follows conventions of the genre. One way in which it does this is through the use of establishing shots for each new location. I tried to show the viewer the new locations with many different angles, using the wide-angle lens to get as much in the frame as possible. This gives the viewer an immediate feel for the places shown.

I also used lots of slow pans and tilts in the documentary, a key convention in the documentary genre. These camera movements allow the viewer to really take in a location as the camera moves around it slowly. It feels calm and doesn't rush the viewer, which is especially important in a nature documentary as they often have a relaxing feel to them. The movements also allow the viewer to see locations from all angles, as the pans and tilts give them an all-around impression of a place.

Static shots, too, are an important convention that I followed. They balance out the use of pans and zooms so that the documentary doesn't move too quickly or become overwhelming for viewers. The occasional static shot of a place or a signpost also allows the viewer to pause for thought, or take in details that they might not see with a camera movement.

Audio
The voiceover for the documentary was done by Josh Shirt. It follows documentary conventions perfectly because he professionally compressed, equalised and normalised the audio of the voiceover based on different BBC documentaries. This gives Peak Sheffield the energy and tone of a real TV documentary.

In addition, the music which plays throughout the documentary was composed by Josh Shirt. He used the BBC documentary "Planet Earth II" as a reference point for the volume level, and for the mix with the voiceover. This means that the voiceover and soundtrack don't compete with each other for the viewer's attention, and sound very professional.