Codes and Conventions of Factual Programming

for Television

By Nathan Hurst

Documentary- Johns Not Mad

Johns not mad is a BBC documentary that focuses on a 16 year old lad called john who lives in Scotland with his family. John suffers from a mental disability called Tourette's and shows Johns daily struggles with Tourette’s . The documentary was filmed during 1989 when people did not understand the disability due to Tourette's being less well known.

The documentary 'Johns not mad' uses several codes and conventions of documentary film making. The codes and conventions used are:

-Observational footage of Johns daily life and how he lives.

-Voice over of a female who narrates the Documentary

-Interviews with experts and witnesses about the Tourette's condition

Observational FootageThe documentary uses mainly observational footage of John to show how he copes with everyday life and how he copes with Tourette’s, This is used to go into more depth about Johns life and give the audience a better understanding of Tourette’s and what it is. Documentaries use observational footage to also make the documentary more interesting and entertaining instead of being a constant video of interviews and information. During the documentary you can see shots of John doing shopping and other daily activities.

Voice Over

Voice overs are used to narrate the footage and situations that johns facing and his struggles in his daily life. The voice over is female due to the voice being more sympathetic towards Johns situation . The voice over also gives the audience a better understanding of what is happening during a particular scene.

InterviewsInterviews are used through out the documentary. The interviews used are witness interviews with John, and Johns mum, and an expert interviews with a doctor the interviews with John give the audience an insight to how John feels to such as how Tourette’s affects his daily life and how he has to cope with it, The interview with his mum is on how she has to cope with coming to terms with johns condition. The Experts interview gives the audience more information on the Tourette's condition, Experts interviews act as the voice of god and give more information and facts on Tourette’s. ExpertWitness

BBC News At 10

The BBC News at 10 is an evening News programme broadcasting to the British public that inform people on situations around the world that will effect them or of interest to them. The news uses several codes and conventions such as:

-News reporters are used through out the news.

-Interviews are used also during the news such interviews with experts and witnesses to give information  of the subject being reported.

-Voice overs are used over cutaways and observational footage

-The news have a mixture of hard and soft news.

-Facts and figures are shown through graphics

ReportersNews reporters are used through out the news such as the use of a reporter who is situated in a studio in which he gives the headlines and information about the news that is occurring and relevant. Another reporter that is used is a field reporter who elaborates on the news that is happening.

Main studio Reporter

Field reporter

InterviewsInterviews are used also during the news such interviews with experts and witnesses to give information  of the subject being reported. Interviews with experts are with people who have knowledge on what is being reported on such as doctors, whereas witnesses are people who are the general public who do not have a wide understanding of the subject but who have happened to see and witness it and have some form of knowledge on the situation.

Expert InterviewWitness Interviews

Hard and soft NewsThe news have a mixture of hard and soft news. Hard news which is reported is things such as big news that is important and is life affecting news, whereas soft news is news which is not as important and is more for entertainment purposes. Soft news are reports on things such as sports which Is a lot more light hearted than news on a flood which would be considered hard news.

Hard News

Soft News

Graphics: Facts and figuresFacts and figures are shown through graphics to give the audience a

better understanding of the news and to make it more entertaining and visually appealing so that they do not become disinterested The facts and figures being shown are quantitative and qualitative research. Graphics are also used in the studio behind the reporter which relate to the news.