Auditory conventions of documentary

Voiceover:

Voiceover in a documentary is a commentary by the filmmaker, spoken while the camera is filming, or added to the soundtrack during the production.

Through this the filmmaker can speak directly to the viewer, offering information, explanations and opinions.

A voiceover is useful for poetic and observational documentaries as they often contain content relating to the person creating the documentary, so a voiceover is a way which can easily convey opinions and experiences while visual content is shown at the same time.

Direct narration:

Direct narration is where we see and hear the narrator of the documentary as the narration is presented.

This suggests an intimacy between narrator and audience. This type of narration is often objective - its biases reflect the speaker's background, conflicts and values.

Similar to voiceover, direct narration is also useful for poetic documentaries as the person who is talking is expressing their values or experiences relating to the content.

Direct interview technique:

For a direct Interview technique we see the interviewee talking on camera, and see and hear the interviewer asking questions in the same shot or in a shot-reverse-shot style.

The questions asked are pre-planned to a high degree of accuracy.

The fact the conversation between the interviewer and interviewee is direct allows for a natural setting, often used within observational documentary as the audience can observe both sides of the conversation.

Indirect interview technique:

Indirect Interview technique means we see the interviewee talking on camera, but we don't see or hear the interviewer asking questions in the same shot; this gives the impression of the character speaking directly to the viewer.

Here, the interviewee can inform the audience with natural opinions which are not affected by the question asked.

For both interview types, text is usually added in during editing to inform the audience as to who the interviewee is in relation to the documentary content