I felt that my obligation was fulfilled. In another case, a director decided not to show footage to a subject who wanted approval over material used, because he feared the subject would refuse to permit use. By the late 1990s, U.S. documentary filmmakers had become widely respected media makers, recognized as independent voices at a time of falling public confidence in mainstream media and in the integrity of the political process. We will show the film before it is finished. we operate under a do-no-harm policy.. A great documentary doesnt give you an answer, Breyer said. His promotion of the term has been criticized, by scholar Brian Winston, among others, for allowing ethical choices to go unexamined. I regret it. Following were situations that called forth filmmaker concern about ethical relationships with the audience. Why? Furthermore, noncommercial public TV news programs explicitly placed journalistic standards above commercial mandates. Great journalism shouldnt, either., Copyright 2023 Deseret News Publishing Company. I may get in by a sneaky way but hold up standards in the final product. Another gained access to someone in prison by writing on BBC letterhead stationery, although he was not working for the BBC. With profound sadness, Adi Rukun watches footage of interviews conducted by Joshua Oppenheimer with perpetrators of the 1965-66 Indonesian genocide in Drafthouse Films and Participant Medias The Look of Silence. Courtesy of Drafthouse Films and Participant Media. Gallup reports that just 40 percent of Americans trust media outlets to report the news fully, accurately and fairly. Amid dwindling trust in the press, documentaries with strong, emotional points of view can feel more authentic by comparison. In that instance, I didnt feel it would affect what he was going to say.. Cross and Breyer contend that as journalism appeals to niche audiences, truth itself has become a more slippery and relative concept than it once was making the nuanced, emotional approach of documentaries more appealing. They believe that they come into a situation where their subjects, whether people or animals, are relatively powerless and theyas media makershold some power. Filmmakers repeatedly referenced problems with using historical materials, which document specific people, places, and times, as generic references or in service to a particular and perhaps unrelated point. One subject when drunk revealed something he had never revealed when sober, and in the filmmakers opinion probably would not. What are their concerns? In journalistic practice, payment is usually forbidden for fear of tainting the information garnered. Gordon Quinn recalled, I made a film in the 70s about an 11-year -old girl growing up. Video sweetening, or adding in layers of sound, did not concern documentarians in generalif it was incidental. There is a huge danger that paying for talk will undermine the honesty of the talk, and that it will poison the river for the next filmmaker. They eschew conflict of interest. "But we dont know what a balanced media diet looks like.. They believe that their viewers are dependent on their ethical choices. if both individuals start working at the same time and each spends 70 hours completing inspections over the course of a month, how many total inspections will they have completed? . the DP [director of photography] was sitting there, saying No, Im sure you wouldnt want to do it, but nodding his head yes. One said that as long as the activities they do are those they would normally be doing, if your filming doesnt distort their life there is still a reality that is represented. Another recalled asking her subjects to stage an annual event earlier in the year than it would happen in real life: I would not want to put words in peoples mouth, or edit them in a way thats not leading to the larger truth. In one case, a subject who had signed a release asked Stanley Nelson not to use an interview. It was awkward for them but I did not want to set a precedent.. . The relationship between documentary subject and documentarian has been fraught with conflict since the genre's evolution beyond "actualities" and into a narrative format pioneered by Robert Flaherty. The filmmaker whose subjects were financially strapped did not talk about money in initial conversations, but a year later, when he was still filming, he offered his subjects a $5,000 honorarium. Notably, this attitude does not extend to celebrities, whom filmmakers found to be aggressive and powerful in controlling their image. Who is correct? In one extreme case, for instance, the filmmaker did not protect a subject who implied that he had committed a murder. A.253m2B.25m2C.103m2D.53m2\begin{array} { l } {A. It spoke to the possibilities as well. We consume news in very small bites now like on Twitter, but we naturally tend to want to be able to sink our teeth into something, whether 8,000-word magazine piece or big documentary, Woelfel said. They nonetheless subscribed to shared, but unarticulated, general principles. They had fewer qualms about lying to public officials or to representatives of institutions than about lying to subjects. Institutional standards and practices remain proprietary to the companies for which the filmmakers may be working and do not always reflect the terms they believe are appropriate to their craft. Some filmmakers acknowledged that they occasionally would resort to bad faith and outright deception, both with subjects and with gatekeepers who kept them from subjects. They typically assert that an independent media is a bulwark of democracy, and that the trustof both audience and subjectis essential. . if it sells 200 more lamps in the next month how many lamps does it sell in august. At its face value, colorblindness seems like a good thingreally taking MLK seriously on his call to judge people on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. Changes in camera technology also allowed filmmakers to capture more intimate and up-close moments cinema verite is known for, Woelfel said lighter, more portable cameras allowed the filmmakers behind "Primary" to follow John F. Kennedy and his family into cramped cars and hotel rooms, through crowds and into waiting rooms as poll results came in; places that older, more cumbersome equipment struggled to go. an=(4.5,2,0.5,3,5.5,)?a_n=(4.5,2,-0.5,-3,-5.5,\ldots)? But this is an excuse to keep the budget down., At the same time, filmmakers sought to assess situations informally on a case-by-case basis. . That critique has popped up a lot recently Netflixs miniseries Making and Murderer was criticized for omitting some facts of the case it examined, HBOs The Jinx was similarly judged for not going to police immediately when they found they had a taped confession of the killer, and the true crime podcast Serial has been scrutinized for being too one-sided. [Our subject] had one for radio; we used the audio and made a commercial [to go with the audio]. I changed it . Their communities are far-flung, virtual, and sporadically rallied at film festivals and on listservs. . As one filmmaker noted: I am in their life for a whole year. This movie does not, however, intend to be a documentary about Presley's drug usage. Ringer illustration. Filmmakers who thought of themselves as journalists resisted even the idea of payment. . At a time when there is unprecedented financial pressure on makers to lower costs and increase productivity, filmmakers reported that they routinely found themselves in situations where they needed to balance ethical responsibilities against practical considerations. In some ways, Michael Mann's Ali, starring an Oscar-nominated Will Smith in the title role, plays like When We Were Kings stretched out into a moody, ambient-leaning slow motion. The process of film editingcollapsing actual time into screen time while shaping a film storyinvolves choices that filmmakers often consider in ethical terms. There are purists who would feel thats not right. They widely shared the notions of Do no harm and Protect the vulnerable., They usually treated this relationship as less than friendship and more than a professional relationship, and often as one in which the subject could make significant demands on the filmmaker. Julie Ha and Eugene Yi's involving documentary covers a U.S. wrongful conviction case that ultimately helped improve cultural and judicial sensitivities. To a certain extent, SeaWorld is right, Dixon said, though he liked the film. Wanda Bershen is a consultant on fundraising, festivals and distribution. you have to be truthful. Louis Massiah reiterated this. The interview team consisted of Center for Social Media fellow and filmmaker Mridu Chandra and American University School of Communication MFA graduate student Maura Ugarte. These interviews demonstrate, indeed, a need for a more public and focused conversation about ethics before any standards emerging from shared experience and values can be articulated. In one example, interviews were given and releases were signed on condition that they garble their voice and obscure their face . . Despite its detours, this doc about the alleged 1948 massacre of a Palestinian village clicks into a sobering portrait of collective memory. What is the exact area of an equilateral triangle with sides of length 10 m? Shes a real person and you cant imply something about her that never happened. , However, filmmakers balanced this concern with the need to resell their footage to make a living and considered appropriate decision making part of maintaining their professional reputations. Any documentary code of ethics that has credibility for a field with a wide range of practices must develop from a shared understanding of values, standards, and practices. Observational Documentaries Observational documentaries aim to observe the world around them. . Most subjects signed releases allowing the makers complete editorial control and ownership of the footage for every use early on during the production process. The interview was important for the film, Nelson said, and he believed the request was motivated by desire to control the film. In the case of subjects who they believed were less powerful in the relationship than themselves, they believed that their work should not harm the subjects or leave them worse off than before. Narrative structure sometimes mandates manipulation, which they often but not always found uncomfortable. . Its not about 1965, its about the terrible consequences of impunity in the present.. That, Oppenheimer said, may be one of the reasons why films like his are becoming a larger part of the American movie business: At a time when the news industry is struggling financially and the focus is often on shorter articles, nonfiction and documentary films offer audiences the depth and detail they crave. March of the Penguins March of the Penguins Official Trailer #1 - (2005) HD Watch on Not only was March of the Penguins a legitimate cultural. [30] What I want people to understand is that this is not just about Indonesias past or its history, its about the now, Oppenheimer said from Copenhagen via Skype. Angela says that (7c2d+12cd2+3)+(5c2d2cd28)=22c2d25\left(7 c^{2} d+12 c d^{2}+3\right)+\left(5 c^{2} d-2 c d^{2}-8\right)= 22 c^{2} d^{2}-5(7c2d+12cd2+3)+(5c2d2cd28)=22c2d25. When (filmmakers) feel we have to pick up the ball dropped by the news media, that means we will not prioritize being artists anymore. They daily felt the lack of clarity and standards in ethical practice. This study provides a map of perceived ethical challenges that documentary filmmakersdirectors and producer-directorsin the United States identify in the practice of their craft. We did talk to that other person on the phone and then decided not to interview them for the film. They were fully aware that their choices of angles, shots, and characters were personal and subjective (a POV, or point of view, was repeatedly referenced as a desirable feature of a documentary), and justified their decisions by reference to the concept the truth. This concept was unanchored by validity tests, definitions, or norms. Many filmmakers noted that restaging routine or trivial events such as walking through a door was part and parcel of the filmmaking process and was not what makes the story honest. But many filmmakers went much further, without discomfort. The question of whether to pay subjects was of great concern to filmmakers. Many even see themselves as executors of a higher truth, framed within a narrative. Its important to us that people agree with the film., In some cases filmmakers wanted to share the responsibility and often showed a concern to maintain good relationships. . In one case, Sam Pollard asked a subject to redo an interview in order to get a more emotionally rich version of a painful moment when he had been abused by police in prison. At the same time, they themselves are vulnerable in a wider media system. I remember negotiating with a bigwig, he was in demand, he said hed like to do it, and requested a donation to a nonprofit. I can convince you that a lot of films are truthful., While news outlets appeal to different and distinct audiences based on interest and political persuasion, Cross says documentary films are thriving precisely because they dont try to settle on whats true., Theres this idea that somehow, I have to be a trained reporter to dispense the news, Cross said. This report reveals profound ethical conflicts informing the daily work of documentarians. That is the most deliberate falsification Ive ever done . Filmmakers identified challenges in two kinds of relationships that raised ethical questions: with subjects and with viewers. This study demonstrates the need to have a more public and ongoing conversation about ethical problems in documentary filmmaking. A journalist wouldnt show you the footage. . Dialogue editing and reaction shots are necessary tools of documentary, and while sometimes manipulative, often fall under Picassos idea of art as the lie that makes us realize the truth. within last week 6 students have dropped out of the basketball team and 2 students have dropped out of the debate tryouts. if the regular price of the hats is 25$, how many hats could be bought at the sale price it a shopper spent 105? But when art (like a documentary) shocks us, its never because were hearing something new. The subjective line between fact-finding and cinema is a conundrum critics recognize about Oppenheimers work even as they praise it. Filmmakers were asked to speak about their own experiences, focusing on the recent past, rather than generalizing about the field. Julie Ha and Eugene Yi's involving documentary covers a U.S. wrongful conviction case that ultimately helped improve cultural and judicial sensitivities. Documentary filmmakers need a larger, more sustained and public discussion of ethics, and they also need safe zones to share questions and to report concerns. That was really helpful to me. Adi Rukun, left, questions Commander Amir Siahaan, one of the death squad leaders responsible for his brothers death during the Indonesian genocide, in Joshua Oppenheimers documentary The Look of Silence. Courtesy of Drafthouse Films and Participant Media. The assembly-line nature of the production process also threatens the integrity of agreements made between producers and their subjects as a condition of filming. Everyone raised their hands. how many employees both work with customers and work in the warehouse, in an upcoming election 75% of the landlocked voters will vote for candidate A, while the rest will vote for candidate B; 20% of coastal voters will vote for candidate A while the rest will vote candidate B. which of the following represents the lowes percentage from all voters combined (landlocked and coastal) that must be landlocked (not coastal) in orderer candidate A to win, the graph show the number of book a book store sold per month. In general, documentary filmmakers tended to volunteer few comments about audio elements. One filmmaker said I might hire a scholar for a day to consult with me on a script, so why cant I pay a musician whos made little money and felt exploited by white people their whole life? Steven Ascher said that revealing a subjects weaknesses or positions that the audience is likely to find laughable or repellant can be justified when they are taking advantage of other people or when they are so completely convinced of their own rightness, they would be happy with their portrayal. Furthermore, producers, who were held responsible for the standards, are typically forbidden to offer subjects the right of review or to restage events; they are required to ensure that image and sound properly represent reality, and that music and special effects are used sparingly. It depends on the project.. We loved the texture of the campaign commercials for various candidates. It would have made a fabulous turning point in the film, but I didnt include it. Interrogating what it means to become a "subject" in a documentary film that ultimately takes on a life and a folklore of its own, Jennifer Tiexiera and Camilla This baseline research is necessary to begin any inquiry into ethical standards because the field has not yet articulated ethical standards specific to documentary. Co-director, Center for Media & Social Impact, American University, Peter Jaszi, Advertisement. if Rauls sister is 25 years old how old is Rauls brothers, a store selling posters featuring Yosemite national park carries posters in three different sizes, with twelve different designs, and each poster is available in four different frames. They also lacked support for ethical deliberation under typical work pressures. Someone else will be culling footage from your film. The keenly felt power differential between filmmaker and subject led some filmmakers to make unilateral storytelling decisions, usually to omit material, with empathy for the subjects. Filmmakers also face pressure to inflate drama or character conflict and to create drama where no natural drama exists. The film becomes a historical document. That more cinematic approach to documentary filmmaking is new, said Stacey Woelfel, the director of the University of Missouri's Center for Documentary Journalism, but it's present in many modern documentaries like "The Jinx," "Blackfish" and others. You have to condense, but you cant manipulate., Dixon used the popular documentary Blackfish, about the quality of life of SeaWorld orcas, as another example. . The awareness of a power differential also leads filmmakers sometimes to volunteer to share decision-making power with some subjects. Another featured uniformed guardsa one-time, exceptional moment. He said, Its a rotten thing to have done journalistically. Unlike journalism, documentary filmmaking has largely been an individual, freelance effort. I want to always be able to send the DVD to them. Another explained, You owe them always having in your mind the power you have as a filmmaker, presenting them to millions of people. In London, people expect fees for interviews, etc., anytime you take up someones time. The trend towards faster and cheaper documentaries and the assembly line nature of work has proven challenging to filmmakers understanding of their obligations to subjects in particular. 5 7 11 17. 25. an automobile factory produces 75 cars in an hour. We are a respected educational program provider, [and] we would have looked bad, disgraced by it., Filmmakers expected to get to truth via the vehicle of a story and held themselves responsible for its implications. Filmmakers grounded this permission in two arguments: they wanted to demonstrate a trust relationship with the subject, and they wanted to make a film that was responsible to the subjects perspectives. After I wrapped, I felt like a real shit for the rest of the day, felt like I manipulated him for my personal gain. Accompanying the represented sub-ject matter is the film's attitude toward its . That paradigm isnt going to stand any longer.. How much do their own reasoning processes correlate with existing journalism codes? The opening . The standards and practices share some common themes, as analyzed by project advisor Jon Else. In both situations, they used deception to keep someone with the power to stop the project from doing so, and they regarded it as entirely ethical because of an ends-justifies-the-means argument. Following is further discussion of ways in which ethical questions about relationships with subjects surfaced in interviews. For example, any kind of romantic relationship would be unacceptable. Filmmakers were acutely aware of the implications of telling a story one way rather than another. . How can you tell whats true? They may be encouraged to alter the story to pump up the excitement, the conflict, or the danger. Stanley Nelson said, People have to know and feel its a recreation. Symbolic tribunals?. For example, the main subject of "Silence" an optometrist, Adi Rukun, who was born after his older brother was murdered openly confronts his brother's likely (but unconfirmed) killers in front of the camera as a sort of impromptu and very damning confessional. her less experienced colleague takes 1.6 hours to complete a root canal. Sophie says that (7c2d+12cd2+3)+(5c2d2cd28)=12c2d+10cd25\left(7 c^{2} d+12 c d^{2}+3\right)+\left(5 c^{2} d-2 c d^{2}-8\right)= 12 c^{2} d+10 c d^{2}-5(7c2d+12cd2+3)+(5c2d2cd28)=12c2d+10cd25. A story of loving impossible loves and the torture of self-discovery in a world of demagogues and uncompromising hate, it has a tragic immediacy that makes it as contemporary as ever. One filmmaker, for instance, created archival material to use in her documentary and was asked to take it out by thebroadcaster when they found out it wasnt real. I want you to sign the release, but we will really listen to you. This distinction accords with filmmakers sensitivity to the power differential in the relationship. Documentary filmmakers, whether they were producing histories for public television, nature programs for cable, or independent political documentaries, found themselves facing not only economic pressure but also close scrutiny for the ethics of their practices. in one month a farmer produces 1200 pounds of potatoes in the following mont the amount of potatoes it produces increases by 15 over the previous month how many potatoes does it produce in the second month? " Free Chol Soo Lee " charts the . You have to serve the truth. Another filmmaker unapologetically recalled alienating his subjects because he had, in the interest of the viewers and of his own artistic values, included frank comments that caused members of their own community to turn against them. Taped confessions? to figure out which of those statements could put the character at risk. The filmmaker removed an incriminating line, while keeping the general information and preserving the filmmakers interests as a creator. Filmmakers surveyed contrasted notions of a higher truth with concern for factual accuracy of discrete data, which they also valued but often regarded as a lower-level standard to meet. . Ultimately Im not of that position. And Im not sure thats a bad thing.. Filmmakers also asserted a primary relationship to viewers, which they phrased as a professional one: an ethical obligation to deliver accurate and honestly told stories. But those kinds of distortions are often necessary to tell the story or to compress ideas that would otherwise take too long. . This protective attitude was dropped when filmmakers found an act ethically repugnant, often seeing their job as exposing malfeasance. They didnt demand it, but they were right. At the same time, they shared unarticulated general principles and limitations. a safety specialist can complete an inspection in .5 hours. It eats me up every day. a company hires 14 new employees onto sales team A and 14 new employees onto sales Team B. within one year 2 of the new team A employees and 6 of the new team B employees have quit. She said she was trained to think of archival this way, to think that as a filmmaker, you put it out there as truth. What were seeing now is a democratization of storytelling in a way that gives John Q. As an authority in a particular area or topic, they are uniquely qualified to provide guidance and strategy. In the end, if I cant convince you then well take it out., Some also believed that seeing material in advance helped make their subjects more comfortable with the exposure they would encounter, thus avoiding problems in the future. In 2021 yet. In Egypt, I had a fixer who paid everyone as we went, thats the way they do things there. A funny thing happened over the past decade in the short subject documentary space: It became competitive. Even producers working for large outlets, such as Discovery, National Geographic, and PBS, are typically independent contractors. Twenty years later some people making a film about abortion wanted to use some of our footage to set the historical context of the times. If you're in tech, you might have subject matter experts for web-hosting, agile methodology, and more. When filmmakers face ethical conflicts, they often resolve them in an ad-hoc way, keeping their deep face-to-face relationship with subjects and their more abstract relationship with the viewers in balance with practical concerns about cost, time, and ease of production. Entire Agreement. The ethical tensions in the second focused on ways to maintain a viewers faith in the accuracy and integrity of the work. 25\ m ^ { 2 } } \end{array}\quad \begin{array} { l } {C. 10 \sqrt { 3 }\ m ^ { 2 } } \\ {D. 5 \sqrt { 3 }\ m ^ { 2 } } \end{array} Some filmmakers, however, did give subjects the right to decide whether or not their material should be included in the film. In relation to viewers, they often justified the manipulation of individual facts, sequences, and meanings of images, if it meant telling a story more effectively and helped viewers grasp the main, and overall truthful, themes of a story. the politicians earlier association with the student communist movement ________________ his reputation with some in his party, who feared his history would hurt his chances of being elected, the documentary became popular due to its subject matter, it dealt with sensitive topic but ____________ the information in a palatable way. what is the price of the stock after two years, a coffee shop sold 300 beverages during one morning shift. It shocks us with that quaking moment of recognition, Oppenheimer said. Is the filmmaker the center of this film? Shyamalan made Split as an indirect sequel to Unbreakable . In still another case, an HIV-positive mother addicted to drugs asked filmmakers not to reveal where she lives. The difference is, if Im making a fictional film, Superman can fly. The movie's lesson is brutal, sad, and inescapable: Elvis Presley was a man who gave joy to a great many people but felt very little of his own, because he became addicted and stayed addicted until the day it killed him. Filmmakers need to develop a more broadly shared understanding of the nature of their problems and to evolve a common understanding of fair ways to balance their various obligations. Maybe you cant. . Its one of those areas where our responsibility to our audience and our responsibility to our subjects can be at odds. an. If Americans substitute documentary film for hard news reports and daily journalism, it could have major implications for journalism and for how Americans view the world around them. March of the Penguins (2005) Dir. When documentary filmmakers do have to make their own ethical decisions, how do they reason? a bookstore has a sale where all hardcore books are sold at a discount of 40%. it would have been a betrayal to not listen to her. Ross Kaufman noted that the subjects disagreed with the coda at the end of one of his films, saying that it did not ring true to them . In a certain sense there is something deceptive about that. This DPA may be amended and the observance of any provision of this DPA may be waived . Documentary films have risen significantly in popularity since the turn of the century, increasing from less than 5 percent of all movie releases to 18 percent as of 2012, according to the media analysis nonprofit group the Harmony Institute.