CONVENTIONS OF D9 (Genre)

Question 1

conventions of real documentaries:

Answer 1

• actuality footage (recording)
• voiceover (story)
• narrativization (communicate)
• interview (realism)
• text (information)
• sound (effect)
• dramatization (actors)
• realism
• uneven/wobbly hand held camera work and unintended sound

Question 2

conventions of news programmes:

Answer 2

• mode of address: the way in which news readers deliver the news to its audience/viewers
• interviewing experts and witnesses: gives a further insight into subject. reporters will use this to gain information which isn’t based on factual knowledge
• report structure: e.g. studio, at the location, interview
• actuality footage: live footage taken from a scene/event that are broadcast

Question 3

conventions of sci-fi films:

Answer 3

• special effects: lasers, character transformations, explosions etc
• film techniques: close ups of futuristic technologies/scientific elements
• symbolism: futuristic props, costume and setting that represent the scientific advancement at the centre of the film
• narrative elements: conflict between good and evil (usually resolved by the end)
• narrative elements: new technology, nanotech, robots, spaceships, new scientific principles (e.g. time travel), new political systems (e.g. dystopian/utopian societies)
• setting (place): outer space, other worlds, or alternative versions of earth
• setting (time): the future, an alternative timeline, a present in which the alien (or unfamiliar) is placed within the familiar

Question 4

conventions of documentary in district 9:

Answer 4

• interview: wikus/wikus’s family members/sociologists/scientists are all interviewed and talk about events that we are yet to be shown. hooks us and provides realism as we see wikus’s mum cry, making us feel sympathetic
• actuality footage: handheld cameras from high angles to represent last footage of wikus, that we can presume is from a helicopter
• sound: dramatic/tribal music in beginning. gives a dangerous atmosphere, and creates the effect of tension and anticipation
• realism: interviews and ‘actuality footage’. it was location shooting as MNU documentary follows wikus into D9. also can be seen as following the action as fights occur in D9

Question 5

conventions of a sci-fi film in D9:

Answer 5

• film techniques(character transformations) - Wikus transforms into an alien throughout the film
• setting - alien is placed within the familiar and film is set when the movie came out (2010). it is an alternative version of earth
• new technology - alien technology that humans cannot wield
• conflict between good and evil MNU represented as evil due to rude and aggressive characters and they treat the aliens poorly. the aliens are represented as god through christopher as he is seen as good. he is ‘human-like’ so we have sympathy for him

Question 6

unconventional sci-fi/documentary conventions in D9:

Answer 6

• no voiceover - audience figure out storyline for themselves
• no dramatization - theres no fake actors retelling the story, instead we watch ‘actuality footage’
• conflict between good and evil never gets resolved - aliens are moved into district 10 and the film ends where it began
• no new political systems - although MNU is a new organisation, in real life the government runs military organisations such as Lockheed martin (USA). IRL we have also seen governments separate races such as 1950s apartheid