Mock-umentrary

Conventions of the genre:

• Interviews - They use one on one interviews with no cutting to give the true reflection of the character. They are given prompts when being interviewed and so this makes the viewers feel as if the interview shots are completely real, un-rehearsed giving a more believable performance.
• Quality- Mockumentaries often use handheld shorts because it shows that it was spare of the moments and perhaps less professional. This makes the shot more believable. It seems more real and as a result it is normally funnier.
• Variety- Close up shots, wide angle shots and extreme long shots are the most commonly used in this genre. The close up shot is normally used to show detail such as the characters emotions for wider scope of how the character feels. The wide angle shot shows more background so possibly as a location introduction. The extreme long shot is used to similar effect, but can fit in more visual detail than the standard long shot.
• Voiceovers- They are used to tell the story without having to consult certain characters. They fill the viewer in on information they would miss by the characters not telling them directly. 
• Comedy - Without humour they would be normal documentaries  and therefore without humour, a mockumentary is unsuccessful.

Pros and cons of a Short Mockumentary Film
Pros:

• A short in this genre will squeeze a very short storyline into a short space of time to keep it more interesting and hold the viewers attention.
• You would not have to use facts and figures as its not always true or use very obviously made up ones.
• Real life footage so cheeper to use normal day people and location.
• Staged acting means that it can be planned ahead and doesn't require luck of catching the best and right footage at the time of something happening. 
• The humour element of a Mockumentary would mean that you probably have a much wider target audience than your standard documentary. Younger people in particular find funnier short films more appealing.

Cons:

• Some would say that a short film can not expand as much on information as a feature length Mockumentary can so not as in-depth?
• Acting is key and good acting is required to make the storyline believable. 
• There is no guarantee that a Mockumentary is going to be funny. You need a really well-written, funny script for your Mockumentary to be successful.

Textual Analysis of Facebook Addiction

Here I am analysing some code and conventions of existing mock-umentrary short films, and see if I can get any inspiration for my own short film.

Narrative Context:‘Facebook Addiction‘, it’s about how Facebook (a social networking website) is taking over people’s lives and now there’s actually a medical condition called ‘Facebook Addiction Disorder‘ (FAD). The short film follows one girl’s addiction with it and how she gets help.

Codes & Conventions Of A Mockumentary:

Titles:

There were two titles at the beginning with the following sentences; ‘The following was shot over a four day period following a student suffering from FAD’… ‘This is her story’. They give the impression that the short film is going to be a documentary based on a real medical condition…

The other titles we see are at the end of the short film, these are conventional for any film and show it is the end. They also give information of the cast, music etc.

 

Diegetic Sound:

Dialogue is key; it can either make or break  a mockumentary. In this short film there were some very quirky one liners which really added to the humour.

“So I’ve got pictures of my friends and family… Mark Zuckerberg… Here are my cousins…”

Because she acts like its normal it adds to the humour. It genuinely is like a documentary but the little details like this make it funny.

“FAD, or known in the industry as Facebook addiction disorder is increasing in teenagers and adultescent”

This is said by the ‘Head of Psychology’making the audience believe she is a reliable source and giving more  information into this medical case- following the conventions of a documentary.

“Yeah, yeah I’m shutting it now.. “
“No you just minimised it there, you didn’t actually quit out of it”
There are interviews with her friends to give another perspective on how the issue is affecting people; they tell the audience how she doesn’t know she has a problem, but she’s stopped spending time with them…

The main storyline that they focus around in the short film is Libby’s obession with her ‘boyfriend’ Karl…

There is one point in the short film where he blocks her, she has a total overreaction and starts swearing- the audience hears the ‘bleeps’. Her strop continues when shes tucked up in bed and she keeps screaming; she then throws her picture of Mark Zuckerberg out of the window.

The overreaction is hilarious; the way she treats the situation is conventional of mockumentary- its completely taking the mick but yet she’s so serious.

Non-Diegetic Sound:

The non diegetic sound we hear is the music at the start and during the clips where there isn’t any dialogue. The music sounds like an acoustic guitar which is pretty simple and just breaks the scene up a little bit so it doesn’t seem so lengthy…

Camera Angles:

There were about four main shot types used during the mockumentary and so these display the typical codes and conventions;

Close Up:

The close up shots allow the audience to see the facial expressions of the character which I think is important for a mockumentary as they display more detail; distinguishing main characters.

Medium Close Up:

The medium close ups were really useful when doing the interviews with the characters. They allowed the audience to see the character’s upper body so you can see what body language they’re giving off and also they just are conventional of the documentary interviews we see on TV and in films.

Over The Shoulder Shot:

The over the shoulder shot puts the audience in the position of the main character and sees it from their point of view. I think this shot was the best one used because it really gave the audience a different perspective and also linked with the establishing long shot it helps the audience place the characters in their setting.

Long Shot:

The long shots were used to establish the scene and shows the audience where the main character was; for example they use the long shot every time we see Libby in her house.

Overall, I definitely have take some ideas from this mockumentary; I will use the idea of having interviews with my main character and also the other characters. I will also use the shot types as these four were used the most in this mockumentary so seem to show the conventional shot types of mockumentaries.