Being very similar to the well known genre Documentary, Mockumentary films are a less serious, often non factual, approach to this genre. These films are mostly comedies and their job is purely to entertain an audience. One of my favourite Mockumentaries is 'This is Spinal Tap' (1984). This film features the fictional rock band 'Spinal Tap' and the ups and downs of their career. Some of the features of this film that I believe make it a good mockumentary are:- Assumptions and expectations of a documentary.
- An authoritative voiceover (like in a documentary).
- 'Real' footage, video camera style may be used.
- Interviews with characters.
- Non-diegetic sound, sometimes for transitioning between scenes.
- Feel good nature, happy ending.
- Still images and close ups.
It is very obvious from studying the conventions of a Mockumentary, that they are very similar to that of a Documentary. Therefore, many filmmakers would be obliged to use these conventions in order to create a successful film in the mockumentary genre.
An idea that Charlie had was to mimic a wildlife documentary but from the perspective of the animals. There would be an animal such as a lion as the presenter and they would walk around a safari park, narrating the lives of the tourists. This idea would suit a mockumentary because it would have a comical theme, a good narrator, real footage, and could easily use similar filming and editing techniques to what would be required.
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