Some filmmakers, however, did give subjects the right to decide whether or not their material should be included in the film. We felt it was better not to use that scene. By not including a perspective sympathetic or understanding of SeaWorld's position even perhaps their attorneys, who could explain their side of legal cases included in the movie the film stops trying to tell the entire story. In the case of viewers, they believed that they were obligated to provide a generally truthful narrative or story, even if some of the means of doing that involved misrepresentation, manipulation, or elision. 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. 25\ m ^ { 2 } } \end{array}\quad \begin{array} { l } {C. 10 \sqrt { 3 }\ m ^ { 2 } } \\ {D. 5 \sqrt { 3 }\ m ^ { 2 } } \end{array} 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. What is the difference? A cable TV producer argued that the ethical thing to do would be to pay subjects. When the filmmaker showed a scene of a handcuffed minor in juvenile halla crucial and pivotal sceneto the family, in spite of having releases, the mother objected. So there is a more profound relationship, not a journalistic two or three hours., They were acutely aware of the power they have over their subjects. Filmmakers resolved these conflicts on an ad-hoc basis and argued routinely for situational, case-by-case ethical decisions. That is the most deliberate falsification Ive ever done . Following is further discussion of ways in which ethical questions about relationships with subjects surfaced in interviews. 5 7 11 17. 25. an automobile factory produces 75 cars in an hour. It has no ethical or redemptive value . The interview was important for the film, Nelson said, and he believed the request was motivated by desire to control the film. . how many hours will it take to produce 3000 cars? At the same time, documentary television production was accelerating to fill the need for quality programming in ever-expanding screen time, generating popular, formula-driven programs. 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. I always decide not to use that moment, said another. 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. My test for these things is, Does the audience know what its getting? . Someone else will be culling footage from your film. What hes done isnt quite documentary filmmaking, but it certainly isnt fiction either, Slate Magazine film critic Dana Stevens wrote of Oppenheimers work. her less experienced colleague takes 2.0 hours to complete an inspection. Those are pretty boring, Woelfel said. I feel like I approached the subject differently. When documentary filmmakers do have to make their own ethical decisions, how do they reason? Filmmakers also try to prevent material featuring their subjects from being reused by other filmmakers in ways that might misrepresent them in new contexts. I said, I dont care what youre talking about, we have to put it in there . The population spanned three generations. And you want to be honorable. When the facts of a film are up to a single filmmaker, the truth, too, can become subject to style choices. Oppenheimers film (currently streaming on Netflix and airing on PBS June 27) examines the fallout from a world that wasnt paying attention in the mid-1960s when thousands of people were killed in the Indonesian genocide many of the perpetrators and unapologetic murderers remain significant community members and political leaders in Indonesia today. The second time, he was crying, I was crying, we were all crying. a store has a sale where all hats are sold at a discount of 40%. They were minors, and might have problems with their families or with the law. Another director cited a situation where one high school kid would lift a girl and put her head-first in a trashcan after the teacher had left. It would have made a fabulous turning point in the film, but I didnt include it. I wanted to learn more about why she did the awful things . Its an accepted norm to pay fees. Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law. If the tables were turned, God forbid, said Joe Berlinger, I would never allow them to make a film about my tragedy. We make the films we make because of these relationships we build. Then, its got our companys name on it. A.253m2B.25m2C.103m2D.53m2, How to calculate the 424242nd term of the arithmetic sequence. One director recalled, I knew personal information about one of the [subjects] that I thought would make the film richer, but she was confiding to me in person, not as a filmmaker . time of the drinks were $1 each and the rest $3 each. Filmmakers were acutely aware of the implications of telling a story one way rather than another. Its mostly now a reporter being front and center rather than telling the stories of others, so people feel they cant trust it, Columbia University journalism and documentary film professor June Cross said. You have to be 99.9 percent sure that people will know. Some filmmakers also stage events to occur at a time convenient to the filming. 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. Filmmakers were drawn into criticism of their peers, while lacking common standards of reference. Its not increasing anyones knowledge. Budgets demand efficiencies that may be ethically troubling. We will show the film before it is finished. This DPA may be amended and the observance of any provision of this DPA may be waived . Data were reviewed by an advisory board composed of two industry veteransfilmmaker and author Sheila Curran Bernard and filmmaker and professor Jon Elseand documentary film scholar Bill Nichols. One subject when drunk revealed something he had never revealed when sober, and in the filmmakers opinion probably would not. We loved the texture of the campaign commercials for various candidates. 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. Another filmmaker said that while she would not show subjects the current work, she would show previous films she had made, as a way of gaining their trust. After I wrapped, I felt like a real shit for the rest of the day, felt like I manipulated him for my personal gain. Despite the can't-miss subject matter, "Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal" makes a near-fatal misstep, heavily using dramatic recreations in a way that leaves this Netflix . 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. 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. 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. the cryptocurrency appreciates 200% in the first year and 150% in the next. Notably, this attitude does not extend to celebrities, whom filmmakers found to be aggressive and powerful in controlling their image. 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. They daily felt the lack of clarity and standards in ethical practice. All interviewees were provided with a consent form that had been approved by the American University Institutional Review Board, and all were offered anonymity. March of the Penguins (2005) Dir. The filmmaker believed this to misrepresent the conditions of the region. And Im not sure thats a bad thing.. Accompanying the represented sub-ject matter is the film's attitude toward its . The whale is the subject of the 2013 documentary Blackfish., Director Gabriele Cowperthwaite, right, watches as footage is filmed for her 2013 documentary Blackfish.. Gallup reports that just 40 percent of Americans trust . 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. They may be encouraged to alter the story to pump up the excitement, the conflict, or the danger. Blackfish is what Dixon considers an advocacy film," even though the film spurred change that journalism may not, because of ethical considerations, have been able to achieve. Even producers working for large outlets, such as Discovery, National Geographic, and PBS, are typically independent contractors. Only one respondent, Jennifer Fox, said that she offered fine cut approval in a legal document, with the caveat that the subjects couldnt object to the film because they didnt like the way they looked but could object to things on the grounds of hurting their family. Their communities are far-flung, virtual, and sporadically rallied at film festivals and on listservs. If journalism is like a window, art is like a mirror to confront our deepest mysteries.. Saying this blurry figure is not our guy would ruin the scene, said Peter Miller. The film becomes a historical document. For all their aesthetic beauty, both The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence occupy an unsure place on the continuum of cultural forms. . what percentage of the remaining students are trying out of the basketball team, raul is half the age of his brother and 60% younger than his sister. . One filmmaker recalled omitting a section on request. The process of film editingcollapsing actual time into screen time while shaping a film storyinvolves choices that filmmakers often consider in ethical terms. . I at this point had a hobby of buying super 8 films at a flea market, found some home movies from the 50s of a family, it worked perfectly, a kid his age, house, it was perfect. They had fewer qualms about lying to public officials or to representatives of institutions than about lying to subjects. In one example, interviews were given and releases were signed on condition that they garble their voice and obscure their face . the shares appreciate 10% in the first year and 25 the next. He wanted us to interview someone else as a precondition [for using his own interview], Nelson said. Documentary films are becoming more popular but are they fact or fiction? 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. Advertisement. Their common reasoning was that doing so in any one case would set a precedent, delegitimize the film, and jeopardize the independent vision of the film. The whole truth is always more complex than whats on newsprint or celluloid. [You have to be] obsessively careful. an. . On June 30, Netflix debuted its latest big-ticket true-crime documentary, Sophie: A Murder in West Cork, a three-part deep dive into . . But when art (like a documentary) shocks us, its never because were hearing something new. . Will this 23-year-old tutor win her 23rd Jeopardy! game? People who love documentaries love Netflix because the streaming . Here this guy worked for five days and they get no glory, they go back to their regular jobs. The producer noted that the filmmakers work for a for-profit venture, and were making our money based on these peoples stories . Some filmmakers were adamant that only precisely accurate images should be used. Another recalled a prolonged negotiation. SeaWorld declined to cooperate with filmmakers and called the film propaganda.". One struggles enough in making a good film. They said it will be upsetting for children, and that the films point is solely to talk about material science. The difference is, if Im making a fictional film, Superman can fly. 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. Individual filmmakers may develop concurrent projects with and for a range of television programmers, from PBS to the Food Channel, balancing sponsored work (for income) with projects of the heart. Pat Aufderheide, Experts say there are some easy ways to become more media literate to help audiences siphon fact and fiction in documentaries and journalism. If there's a lawyer on your company's payroll, they're the subject matter expert for anything legal. 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. I used it, and Im sure 99 percent of the people who watched the film thought it was him and his family. Its become an easy thing to do to say that we dont pay. . to prove that other sresidents considered the new billboard to be a _______ on the neighborhood, he conducted a survey in hopes of documentary his neighbors negative reaction to it. Julie Ha and Eugene Yi's involving documentary covers a U.S. wrongful conviction case that ultimately helped improve cultural and judicial sensitivities. Is somebody on the soundtrack telling you what to think? Of course, doing your homework and keeping up with current eLearning trends is a must. an hourly worker whose wage is 15 per hour will be paid how much for an 8 hour shift, which of the following is the. Clockwise from top left: Casting JonBenet; Homecoming, Dirty Money, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead; Miss Americana; Jim & Andy. One featured his typical bodyguards, in street clothes. Would you believe an interview with Dick Cheney if you knew he was paid a hefty honorarium? . Where before a small number of players dominated the category, now it is extraordinarily . They didnt garble the voice but did obscure the face. We did talk to that other person on the phone and then decided not to interview them for the film. It summarizes the results of 45 long-form interviews in which filmmakers were asked simply to describe recent ethical challenges that surfaced in their work. if the bartenders total pay for the moth was $4,250. In one case, a filmmaker decided to withhold information about a public figures drug addiction in order to create the strongest cinematic experience. To a certain extent, SeaWorld is right, Dixon said, though he liked the film. He chose to do this because the subjects had asked for money, and he felt that by then his access was not predicated on the payment, and that this was an important gesture to make. Another filmmaker found subjects, who were immigrants, asking to borrow money, which she refused to do because she feared it would jeopardize her working relationship with them:You cross the line, are you the filmmaker or their best friend in America? smallest value. Not everyone who paid did so in recognition of social inequality. I usually say no, its a conflict of interest, but sometimes you really want someone to do the interview. Another thought it was more a matter of cultural norms. 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. She said she was trained to think of archival this way, to think that as a filmmaker, you put it out there as truth. Ultimately Im not of that position. . Ken Burns recalled having to decide between two photographs to illustrate the point that Huey Long was often surrounded by bodyguards. [Our broadcaster] asked if it was real. No, I never show rough cuts to subjects. At the same time, some people encouraged us to make their stories public and volunteered use of their names. But I feel like its important to get the big-picture truth of the situation on camera. Explain the error. . We have the money. Originating in the 1960s alongside advances in portable film equipment, the Cinma Vrit -style is much less pointed than the expository approach. The filmmaker decided to exclude this information from the film. If its 1958 Manila . They take you to places that you will never see in the so-called mainstream media. But they can also be manipulated.. 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. Stanley Nelson said, People have to know and feel its a recreation. "But we dont know what a balanced media diet looks like.. After discussion with his team and with professional historians, he decided for the atypical shot, because it communicated his point (that Long used bodyguards) more rapidly. One filmmaker said that she tries to be as authentic as possible, down to the year and the place. For a film involving high school students, filmmaker Stanley Nelson asked which students smoked marijuana. Center for Media & Social ImpactSchool of Communication,American University4400 Massachusetts Ave NW So to use archival footage . Its increasingly entertainment. When were children, we have teachers and parents who tell us that if we eat nothing but candy, well die," Woelfel said. This second relationship became primary in the postfilming part of the production process. A documentary goes the other way, Breyer said. I remember negotiating with a bigwig, he was in demand, he said hed like to do it, and requested a donation to a nonprofit. what is the average number of book sold per month during the five month period, which of the following is the largest value. Then Id be suspicious, Dixon said, adding that dramatic re-enactments, too, can be manipulative. He most often refers to his work as art rather than journalism. Why? At the same time, they themselves are vulnerable in a wider media system. They spoke of making a fair film and a truthful film, not necessarily one that would, for instance, make their subjects happy or their networks richer. On the next take, they then asked, Should we break its leg again? . It is a powerful moment in the film but I felt bad to push him to that point when he broke down., This perception of the nature of the relationshipa sympathetic one in which a joint responsibility to tell the subjects story is undertaken, with the filmmaker in chargedemonstrates a major difference between the work of documentary filmmakers and news reporters. Its not meant to be consumed the day its produced.. Some of these outlets may ask filmmakers to observe standards and practices, and/or ethics codes derived from print journalism and broadcast news and developed in conjunction with journalism programs in higher education. 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. . In still another case, an HIV-positive mother addicted to drugs asked filmmakers not to reveal where she lives. This study demonstrates the need to have a more public and ongoing conversation about ethical problems in documentary filmmaking. This movie does not, however, intend to be a documentary about Presley's drug usage. This relationship was, however, much more abstract than the one with their subjects. Every organization has its own host of subject matter experts. Documentary clients have included Sonia, Power Trip, Afghan Women, Trembling Before G*D and Blacks & Jews. Its not about 1965, its about the terrible consequences of impunity in the present.. within last week 6 students have dropped out of the basketball team and 2 students have dropped out of the debate tryouts. I dont think you can call that a documentary because a documentary presents the whole picture.. . I insisted that they show me the cut and when I saw that they were implying that the girl had had an abortion, I said, You have to change that. if it sells 200 more lamps in the next month how many lamps does it sell in august. A documentary is something that intends to be truthful, said Richard Breyer, Syracuse University director of documentary film and history. We consulted with [an] immigration attorney . They commonly shared such principles as, in relation to subjects, Do no harm and Protect the vulnerable, and, in relation to viewers, Honor the viewers trust.. You have to open your eyes and trust yourself. 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. Were no longer seen as an institution thats fair and balanced. A substantial minority of filmmakers argued that they would never allow a subject to see the film until it was finished. In general, documentary filmmakers tended to volunteer few comments about audio elements. what would be the next number in the following series? Then she was OK.. . If you abuse this, then you wont get access to people for the next project.. Documentary filmmakers typically are small business owners, selling their work to a range of distributors, mostly in television. But for us to inflict pain to get a better shot was the wrong thing to do. How can you tell whats true? Observational Documentaries Observational documentaries aim to observe the world around them. In the edit room . In both these cases, the choices not to honor the subjects requests reflected the fact that the subjectsboth experts, not less-powerful subjectsattempted to exert control over the films outcome that differed from that of the filmmakers. I wasnt comfortable with it but I did it. subject matter. Maybe you cant. . Entire Agreement. 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. What is the exact area of an equilateral triangle with sides of length 10 m? Their comments can be grouped into three conflicting sets of responsibilities: to their subjects, their viewers, and their own artistic vision and production exigencies. Or would they think its fair? one filmmaker told us. Singled out for notice was the attention at some television networkseven when not in the news divisionto factual accuracy. While tragic, the events of Silence arent something Americans are likely to read about in the news. It shocks us with that quaking moment of recognition, Oppenheimer said. 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. It was the right thing to do, he said, because it was their lives, their stories that made it successful. The two central characters had equal shares with the three filmmakers. They sometimes deal with hostile gatekeepers or powerful celebrity subjects. That lack of balance and fairness is precisely the worry for some journalists and media analysts. Unlike journalism, documentary filmmaking has largely been an individual, freelance effort. In 2021 yet. Treatment of archival materials (especially still and motion photographic materials) was widely recognized as a site of ethical challenges, but there was a wide range of responses. Above all, Breyer said, accept that it's OK to walk away without a solution to the problems a film presents. film: The documentary The British documentary film movement, led by Grierson, influenced world film production in the 1930s by such films as Grierson's Drifters (1929), a description of the British herring fleet, and Night Mail (1936), about the nightly mail train from London to Glasgow. A great documentary doesnt give you an answer, Breyer said. But the emotion-first approach can be problematic, Dixon said, when the line between documentary film and what he calls advocacy films is blurred based on what a filmmaker chooses to include or emphasize. 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. I have to be careful not to abuse the friendship with the subject, but its a rapport that is somewhat false, said one. what is the value of the cryptocurrency after 2 years, a restaurant buys 1500 eggs per week, at $1.50 per dozen. Most of those makers had experience both with nonprofit outlets, such as public TV, and with cable or commercial network television. . how much money did she generate in drink sales during this time? Julie Ha and Eugene Yi's involving documentary covers a U.S. wrongful conviction case that ultimately helped improve cultural and judicial sensitivities. Dixon suggests viewers beware certain hallmarks designed to sway them. Wanda Bershen is a consultant on fundraising, festivals and distribution. Perhaps because the terms of these releases were not their own, filmmakers often provided more leeway to their subjects than the strict terms provided in them. Some filmmakers, however, were comfortable using stuff that evokes the feel of the spot or the person or the subject matter. They believed it was acceptable when it helped the story flow without causing misunderstandings, and they did not believe in disclosure. . Indeed, any subjects withdrawal of affection may result in denial of access to material in which the filmmakers have invested heavily. a group of numbers has an average of 18. the first three numbers are 12, 24, 16. what is the other number, an investor purchases cryptocurrency for $1000 unit. 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. . the more fundamental questions are related to matters of life and death. Who is correct? " Free Chol Soo Lee " charts the . Here are the best documentary films of all time. . Finally, some filmmakers believed that deceit was appropriate in the service of their work with vulnerable subjects and their stories and with powerful subjects who might put up obstacles. Its important to lift up people who tell their stories, as opposed to making them victims. For example, any kind of romantic relationship would be unacceptable. . Its a powerful story, and its important plot-wise. The core data was gathered in long-form, hour-long interviews, grounded in open-ended questions, conducted usually by phone. Furthermore, noncommercial public TV news programs explicitly placed journalistic standards above commercial mandates. 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. It appears to justify the overall goal of communicating the important themes, processes, or messages within the (required) entertaining narrative frame, while still permitting the necessary distortions to fit within that frame and the flexibility to deal with production exigencies.
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