Editing

In documentaries you notice the use of remote cameras a lot; this is when the crew place a camera somewhere that can view the subject they are filming and let it run for hours, or in some cases weeks (The latter used for things such as time-lapses however). Usually the camera won't be of full HD quality, so it is general slightly degraded quality, and sometimes even the quality of a cheap digital camera.

To fully recreate this effect in editing, I used a 'noise' filter. This retains the quality of the image, but adds the grain as a separate layer over it, making it feel as though the quality is low.

Secondly, I added a slight stuttering filter on the clip; what this does is when the effect is active, it skips several frames so rather than playing back at true 25fps, it plays back at 20-ish fps. This again is to give it the effect of a camera that is being remotely used and controlled.

Lastly, the final effect I added was the 'REC' and white border around the clip. This is to give the audience the idea that it is being filmed on a home video camera, as you look through the view finder and see that it is recording. 

Overall these three filters create a very realistic and convincing effect, we ended up using the same three effects on several clips to give the impression we had hidden these cameras all over the place, following the student everywhere he goes.