Codes & Conventions of News Broadcasts & Documentaries

Codes and Conventions Definitions

Codes;

• Codes are systems of signs, which create meaning. Codes can be divided into two categories – technical and symbolic.
• Technical codes are all the ways in which equipment is used to tell the story in a media text, for example the camera work in a film.
• Symbolic codes show what is beneath the surface of what we see. For example, a character's actions show you how the character is feeling.
• Some codes fit both categories – music for example, is both technical and symbolic.

Conventions;

• Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something. There are general conventions in any medium, such as the use of interviewee quotes in a print article, but conventions are also genre specific.

Codes and Conventions of Documentaries 

12 Year Old Lifer - Channel 4 Documentary

In April 2010, in the small town of Enchanted Hills in Indiana, 12 year-old Paul Gingerich helped his friend, 15-year-old Colt Lundy, shoot and kill Colt’s stepfather. The shocking murder of Philip Danner was carried out by two middle-class boys with no prior criminal records. The story of the crime is one that has both gripped and baffled the whole of America. With unprecedented access to both boys, their families, and the ongoing court case, this True stories film offers an extraordinary insight into the crime and its aftermath. It also allows the key players in the case to give poignant and candid interviews telling their side of the story. After plotting the crime in the local playground after school, Paul and Colt shot Phillip multiple times. They then stole his car, fled the scene and were eventually picked up by the police after travelling 200 miles. To this day there is no known motive for the crime. Despite their ages, both Paul and Colt were tried and sentenced as adults, and are each serving 30 years. At 12, Paul is one of the youngest children in American history to be waived adult court. Colt was sent straight to a maximum security adult prison and will be transferred to the adult wing when he turns 18. Paul’s family is waging a controversial and historic appeal for him to be re-tried as a juvenile, meaning that he could avoid being sent to adult prison and remain in a juvenile detention facility.

The documentary was first broadcast on Thursday 2nd of May 2013 and has a duration time of 52 minutes.

The main themes in the documentary:
Family disputes
Teenage crime
Prison life
Teenagers being impressionable on others
Children/ teenagers growing up/ living in prison

Code and Conventions of the documentary 

Actuality: 

Actuality footage is used throughout 12 Year Old Lifer, because the documentary is aimed at telling the audience a story the use of just interviews wouldn't be as interesting and understanding, so the filmmaker chose to use actuality footage makes it more realistic and believable. An example of this in 12 Year Old Lifer was the cut in between interviews which showed shots of locations related to the documentary like play grounds which symbolize how young the murderers actually are and also how they planned the unthinkable murder in an actual playground.

Voice over:

The voice over on 12 Year Old Lifer is a mix from the narrator and the interviewees. The documentary starts with the narrator discussing the crime and the background of the two youths. Its usually common for documentaries to start with a narrator summarizing the topic otherwise the audience wouldn't understand previous events if it went straight into interviews it also makes the documentary flow better. The other voice overs used in the documentary are from the interviewees, rather then just the interviews being visually shown in a way of the camera on the interviewee talking straight to the camera. In 12 Year Old Lifer the filmmaker uses what the interviewees are saying as the voice over and whilst this is happening what the interviewees are saying is shown visually on the screen. For example when the parents of Paul are talking about their sons life before his sentence, footage from his past like his school, his old home was shown whilst the parents were the voice over.

Direct and Indirect Interviews:

Interviews are used throughout 12 Year Old Lifer to add depth and back up the documentary. It also allows the key players in the case to give poignant and candid interviews telling their side of the story. A range of people are interviewed which makes it more interesting as it has plenty of sides to the story and makes it genuinely more interesting as its not an hour worth of facts or voice over which could be slightly tedious. Some of the people interviewed are the criminals who committed the crime, police officers involved in the case, family members of the victims and felons, people involved in the court case ect. With all these ranges of interviews it makes a big variety of opinions and comments; the documentary is less bias as theirs no favorited side. The documentary also showed a change of interviews; some of the interviews from the murderers Paul and Colt were recorded when they first committed the crime and then interviews from present day which showed the audience the contrast from when they were young to when they were older; also shows their developments, gain of maturity and responsibility. The interviews from family members were very heart felt and touching, they were sharing personal details about them which made the audience feel more touched and spoken directly to. An example of this was when the victim Paul Gingerich's children were discussing the life and personality of the father and husband; a very personal and touching moment.

Archival footage:

Archival footage was used in 12 Year Old Lifer as a way of showing the real life footage from the case. One example of archival footage used was when the two teenagers were arrested and taken into prison in handcuffs this footage was used to show the audience how young the two boys were when they were arrested it also was good way to visually shock the audience as sometimes pictures just aren't enough. Footage from the crime scene was also used, making the documentary very good as it's bringing realness and reliability to it.



Camera Angles:

The camera angles used in 12 Year Old Lifer are typical to crime style documentary, it was recorded in a way which felt real and not overly produced although it had a lot of good information and professional techniques. The documentary was recorded in a professional style but not completely set up, nothing was crazily staged apart from the interviews. The angles in the interview changed to the people who were being interviewed, the interviews with the police officers used camera angles which were straight on, style like a one on one conversation. However that was different with the interviews of victims and felons family members, the camera angles used were medium shots on a high angle style which makes the objects seem small, unharmful and innocent which is what the filmmaker wants them to be portrayed as because the audience are supposed to feel sorry for these people. The camera angles used when interviewing the two criminals were close up low angle shots to make them seem intimidating and daunting. Also the close up style shot focuses on their facial expressions allowing the audience to really understand what they are saying.




Montage:

12 Year Old Life used the technique of montage through telling the background of the shocking crime, then showing Paul the youngest murderers side of the story and then in the final part showing the second murderer and step son of the victim Colt's side of the argument. the documentary was shown in a sequence and then in between other details were told. The documentary started with the police officer on the crime and the family of the victim discussing what events actually took place, which gave the audience awareness of what the actual documentary was about. The second part focused on 12 year old Paul's involvement in the murder and his family are fighting for justice as they believe he was unfairly tarnished with the same brush as Colt and they haven't took the fact he was influenced to do it. Interviews with the police, Paul and his family all were used as techniques to back up Paul's argument. Due to the documentary not being biased they also showed the other side of the argument in the final part of the programme which focused on Colt and his unfair prejudgment. The filmmakers visited Colt and allowed him to justice his decisions and why he actually did it. In between the three main parts of the documentary other information was shown like the victims life, focused on how young the teens actually were and how it become a worldwide news shocker.

Codes and Conventions of News Broadcasting 

News broadcasting is the broadcasting of various news events and other information via television, radio or internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or television studio newsroom, or by a broadcast network.

BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. This department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation. It generates around 120 hours of radio and television output each day, also including online news coverage. The service maintains 45 foreign news bureaux and has correspondents in almost every country. The department's annual budget is £350 million and has a staff of 3,500 (2,000 being journalists). Through the BBC English Regions, BBC News has regional centres across England as well as national news centres in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. All regions and nations produce their own local news programmes and other current affairs and sport programmes.

The news report I watched and identified the codes and conventions with was Thursday 2nd October 2014 episode of BBC News at 10pm.

Appearance: 

The presenter of the news broadcaster is dressed extremely smartly and his whole appearance is sharp and neat. He's wearing a suit which fits with the professional feel of the programme. He looks well groomed which shows that he takes pride in his appearance which personifies with how BBC is represented; its a big company and at the top of its game so only the smartest people are used as the face of the corporation. The news presenter looks reliable and trustworthy which is essential for this role of presenting as there job is to inform the general public with local and worldwide news. The presenter is also exceptionally well spoken which makes him more professional and someone who the audience would want to listen to.

Presenters: 

There is one main presenter throughout the 30 minute news broadcasting, who discusses every different story which is shown, he often switches over to a news reporter which is at the location to add more depth to stories. There are only two other presenters throughout the news show which is the sports presenter who discusses sport stories in the sport slot, the other presenter is the weather person who discusses today's weather and the next days.


Footage: 

Throughout the news broadcast, footage from multiple different stories were shown. Each article the news presenter discussed moments after in the background was footage which related to the story. One example of this was when the presenter spoke about the heartbreaking murder of 14 year old Alice Gross, video footage from the crime scene was shown in the background.


Camera Angles:

Multiple different camera angles were used in the 30 minute news broadcast. It started with a close up angle focusing on the presenters facial expressions as he started reporting on the main headline. Throughout the angles would change from close up, mid close ups and long angle shots which creates a good variety and makes it more interesting and exciting. As the audience would lose interest if everything was in the same angle for the whole programme. It also changes depending on what is actually happening in the show; when theirs an interview the clip starts with a long angle which shows the whole studio to the audience and then it goes to a mid close up shot. The camera angles look sharp professional which is done through the use of a tripod; all professional TV or film companies use tripods.

Graphics:

Graphics are used throughout news broadcasts as a way of adding the professional element to the programme. Graphics are shown on screens in the background when the presenter is discussing a story and the cameraman often zooms into the graphics onto the screen whilst the presenter is talking as the voice over or a reporter from the story on the screen is the voice over. Graphics will always be used in news broadcasting as they are an essential element to sharing news. Graphics are also used to show weather and sport, with the weather person speaking to a graphic screen which shows the weather for the next few days in the background.

Lighting:

Lighting used in news broadcasting is very strong and sharp lighting which focuses on the facial expressions of the presenter. Every flaw is shown which is why presenters and reporters will always be wearing a lot of stage make up so there flaws aren't on show but also to make them look alive and healthy as people are more likely to be listen and be interested in a presenter who visually looks good.


Interviews & Reporters:

The 10pm news broadcasting doesn't have many interviews live from the studio as its the end of the day which usually shows the most important parts of the days news stories. However when the presenter started discussing a story which had more detail to be shown the show went to a different location were either a news reporter or somebody who had a significant involvement started discussing the story in more depth. The reporters were equally dressed and looked smart like the presenter; either wearing a suit or smart clothing and having well groomed appearance.