Typical conventions!

Common Conventions!

Michelle did a very good bit of research into common conventions. We now have a very clear idea of how we're going to film our short film. Below is what Michelle researched and what we then discussed.

When researching and looking into different Documentary/Mockumentary films I have found that most of them included the following conventions:

• Hand-held/Shaky Camera is almost always used, shots can sometimes be out of focus and framed badly. It's common for the film to include shots to with different types of camera resolutions e.g. it may look like the footage is from a CCTV camera or a computer webcam etc.
• The lighting is often quite poor and I've found it's common that the scenes are very dark. Torch light is a very common way of lighting very dark scenes that keep the film looking realistic.
• The sound is sometimes also quite poor and sometimes in inaudible resulting in subtitles being used. The actor dialogue doesn't sound like it has been scripted and learnt by the people in the film.

I have also found that the films often have a specific kind of editing. I found that it is common for the editing to be jumpy and disjointed, This makes it look like the person filming is not actually a professional film maker with a big budget. It also makes it look like what they are filming isn't pre planned and makes it look like they have just picked up their camera and catching what they are filming by chance/luck.
It is common for the films to include text, weather it be dates, times etc. or explaining the story line. The text is included to make the film look factual or confirm important information. It's also common for a voiceover to be used to create the same factual type feel.
Another convention that makes the film look factual is interviews with people. The interviews do not look rehearsed and are often uncomfortable and can often include the people saying controversial things (that are made to look like they can't be edited out).
It isn't common for music to be played over the scenes however if music is included it usually comes from a source/prop used within the scene such as a radio, television etc.

The following film (Grave Encounters) is a great example of a Found footage/ Mockumentary film as it includes almost all of these common conventions.

After watching the video I found a few more typical conventions that will help us when producing our own film.

Script/Dialogue- 0:01:53 The actor at the beginning speaks very slowly and his script is very realistic.You wouldn't know he is an actor, the way he speaks and his long pauses makes what he is saying appear real and truthful. This type of script is typical for this genre and I think this clip demonstrates how well it can work if delivered properly by the actor. When it comes to our script, we will brief the actors to learn their lines but not word for word so that when they say their lines it comes across as organic and as real as possible to create this same effect.

Unstable camera footage: 0:04:13- During this part the camera is very unstable and repeatedly zooms in and out on the actors face. This is also another typical convention and it is to represent to the viewer that the person behind the camera is in fact an amateur and is ac'normal' person filming. Therefore when the unexpected things happen later on it is more shocking for the viewer as we think that this is all happening to a normal person with their hand held cam. It also adds tension to the scene and makes the viewer feel uncomfortable, setting them up for the scary parts later to come in the film.