6Define the codes and conventions of the Documentary genre. You must demonstrate your understanding surrounding the issues of factual programming for television by comparing and contrasting 3-5 different documentaries ‘You wont regret that tattoo’ is a mixture of a biographical documentary and expository documentary, since it offers little to no intervention from the creator of the documentary, but gives complete control to the participant when it comes to the content; the participants being left to themselves and allowed to tell their stories about a subject that the director has a strong opinion on. This type of genre really fits for this documentary because it doesn’t give the sense that the director is trying to force opinions onto the viewers, but instead gives the audience the chance to hear normal, everyday people’s opinions and views; even though the director is indirectly putting their opinion on you with the help of interviewing people with the same opinion as the director. Having this personal documentary is also a great way to help these people, who are clearly older, to try and dismiss the ideology that tattoos will age with you and become unsightly. The documentary is visually pleasing, due to the array of different shot types. The kind of shot types are usually head shots, which gives the feeling that you’re directly talking to you since it’s such a close shot. This is a good technique, since this kind of documentary wants to connect to the audience so that he topic of the documentary really makes an impact on them. That, along with the different cuts between people and their tattoos, really helps engage the viewer and also makes them feel more involved. There’s also a lack of background music whilst the participant is talking, which is not actually recognisable until you watch it again. This helps the audience focus on the words being said, as well as the meaning of their words. They don’t want to distract the viewers with unnecessary music, since the people talking have a point to get across. However, although this documentary doesn’t directly portray the director’s opinion on the topic, you still feel as if it’s bias since they haven’t included the opposite opinion in their video. It tries to paint a better picture of the topic by only including the side that is for tattoos, since otherwise it would defeat the purpose of them making a documentary. They try to make the participants come across as either vulnerable, thick skinned or independent; something that will create sympathy for them, and hopefully making the audience question their opinions on the situation. This technique is almost manipulating people, where as if there was a more balanced argument then there’s a bigger chance that there’s be a bigger range of opinions. If the documentary was to be shown from another perspective, such as ‘anti-tattoos’ then there’s a a chance the audience would have a different outlook on them, since they’d be influenced by the negative opinions on them. It shows how easy it is to manipulate someone’s opinions without directly doing so. ‘Bowling for Columbine’ has the same kind of feel as ‘you wont regret this tattoo’ did, since you can feel as if the director is making his opinion on the situation clear. This expository documentary speaks directly to the audience, trying to expose how gun control in America is ruining their country. There’s a mixture of opinions in this documentary, such as Charlton Heston, who believes that all citizens of America have the right to use guns as their source of safety. In one specific scene we’re able to hear the opinion of Marilyn Manson, and even Michael Moore himself, when both of them are sitting behind stage of Manson’s concert.
They discuss their views on guy control, Manson answering questions with the help of Moore’s guidance. Although during this scene they switch between pro-gun people and anti-gun people, the ones against gun control are usually given better exposure. This is because they way it’s been edited and filmed, since he gives Marilyn Manson a chance to speak his views to Moor in a one-to-one environment, where as we see those who are against him, the religious right, speaking to crowds from podiums. This doesn’t give them a chance to connect to the audience directly, since they are in a totally different environment compared to Manson. He’s given the chance to connect to the audience and to get his points across, also whilst being well spoken and also having questions fed to him which almost mould his answers. However, the documentary has a useful purpose behind it, since the aim of it is to inform people about how America’s lack of gun control is putting their people in danger. By using a globally known story like the columbine school massacre, Moore’s able to express his concern for gun control whilst having valid evidence to back up his point. He manages to use his documentary to benefit people and even give closure to those effected by this controversial topic. He manages to have the bullets used in the school shooting banned, which is a just one step closer to what his main aim is; having more control of guns in America. The main problem in this documentary is that he’s bias throughout the whole piece, which means that it’s hard to agree when he’s making people out to be the bad guys with the use of footage manipulation and talking down to people against his own view. One example of when Michael Moore does this is in the bank, where they offer a gun with each account made. When being asked simple questions such as ‘have you ever admitted into a mental institution’ he makes jokes and also comes across as sarcastic, which manipulates the scene to make it look like the woman asking the questions is stupid. Yet, we knew that she legally has to ask these questions, even if the questions sound pointless. This just emphasizes the earlier point of pro-gun people having bad exposure in this documentary. ‘Through the gift shop’ is a totally different type of documentary, since it’s not trying to expose anything controversial, but is trying to inform people of the street artist world. This observational documentary watches a man filming the lives of world known street artists, following his experiences with the street art business throughout the whole process. It shows a mixture of events that go on when dealing with this form of art, showing just how dangerous the process of making art really can be when their canvas is the city. This documentary flips between interviews and home footage which dates decades back, showing how the street art industry blew up so successfully and how this one man, Thierry Guetta, manages to keep a front row seat throughout this whole journey. There is one scene in this documentary where Banksy, a famous street artist, talks about a publicity stunt him and Thierry managed to pull in Disney land with the topic of Guantanamo bay.