Analysis - Definition of documentarys

A documentary can last from 3 minutes up to an hour. Conventionally, documentaries that last longer tend to be produced and distributed by the BBC, such as "Planet Earth" (BBC One), "Panorama" (BBC One) and "Don't tell the bride" (BBC Three). Each documentary presents a different topic of discussion, and yet lasts around a similar sort of time frame;

- Panorama is a journalistic documentary that investigates current affairs within society in which is presented in a serious and unbiased manner. It is the world's longest-running current affairs television programme and has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby  and Jeremy Vine. In 2014, it still retains a peak time transmission slot on BBC One, but without a regular presenter. 

- Planet Earth is a informative documentary about natural habits and animals all across the globe. It was produced by the BBC natural history unit and presented by David Attenborough. The show started airing in 2006 and at the end of each fifty-minute episode, a ten-minute feature takes a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges of filming the series.

- Don't tell the bride is a British reality TV documentary following around couples getting ready to get married, but the groom is organising it instead of the bride. In 2015, the show moved to BBC One due to the potential closure of BBC Three as a TV channel. However two series will air in 2015, one on each channel. In February 2012, it was announced that the show had been nominated for a Rose d'Or award for best 'Factual Entertainment' show.

Each of these shows are produced and distributed by the BBC, so naturally they will be funded by the BBC.  In each of these 30minute to an hour documentaries, there is;

-  A voice over
- An introduction to what the documentary is about 
- A montage of clips from the documentary in the introduction
- Establishing shots after the introduction has ended 
- Instrumental music that adjusts according to the mood of the documentary
- Titles and credits

Other features present in these documentaries include;

- Interviews
- Behind the scenes (10 minute feature)
- stats and facts (on screen formal information about the topic of discussion)

In contrast to the BBC, Channel4 produce a wider range of documentaries. Not only do they produce long, 1 hour documentaries but they also produce a series of short 3-5 minute documentaries on 4OD and Youtube;

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBKfErliSueMcd9M_0tx9jvfJCnPQFvg1

I will take inspiration from these resources to create my own short 3-5 minute documentary. Whats different about these documentaries from the longer documentaries is;

- They don't have introductions/ the introduction is much briefer
- There's no behind the scenes or extra features

The content in these short documentaries which is also used in the longer documentaries includes;

- Interviews
- Voice overs 
- A range of clips relating to the documentary including establishing shots 
- Instrumental music that adjusts according to the mood created by the documentary
- Titles and credits

So as shown, documentary content can vary depending on the timing. There are certain things I can't put into my documentary due to timing (5 minutes) and so using this research, i can get a better idea about timing and content.