Codes and conventions of a documentary and the BBC news night format

Impartial, informative, clear, accurate, sourced, balanced and creative.
Voice over- authoritative, makes the audience think, standard English. Starts with the problem or a question then moves to key facts and then on to a conclusion.
Real footage- the footage taken for a documentary must be real and what is happening at the time in relation for your topic. So the audience can relate to it.
Realism and Lighting- natural lighting should be used so the interviewee can be seen and natural lighting makes the documentary seem more realistic.
Sound- play attention to diegetic and non diegetic sound, where music needs to be added and what effects you want the sound to be having on the audience whilst they are watching the documentary.
Set-up's- typical scene's of things that relate to your topic are good to use, but if set up's are used to often it reduces the realism of the documentary and makes it predictable.
Consider different shot- normal interviews usually use an establishing shot.
Text- is very important in a documentary, labels and imagery that have been added all add in the effectiveness of the documentary. They create meaning and aid in information exposure.
Visual coding- mise- en- scene and props are important in setting the right tone and image of the documentary.
Interviews- with experts on your chosen topic are important as the reader gets another point of view and an insightful speech about the topic.
Editing- rule of thirds, 180 degree rule, cutaways and continuity are important in documentaries.
We decided to follow the BBC new night format as the codes and conventions are reasonable and easy to follow also from watching documentaries from BBC news night we feel there documentaries are effective and work well.