Filmmakers resolved these conflicts on an ad-hoc basis and argued routinely for situational, case-by-case ethical decisions. His promotion of the term has been criticized, by scholar Brian Winston, among others, for allowing ethical choices to go unexamined. I said, I dont care what youre talking about, we have to put it in there . . Stanley Nelson said, People have to know and feel its a recreation. (Documentaries) can offer in-depth, detailed looks at what the news media will only superficially cover, but theyre more and more opinion based and less fact based, said Wheeler Winston Dixon, Ryan professor of film studies at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. Luc Jacquet 3. A funny thing happened over the past decade in the short subject documentary space: It became competitive. a bookstore has a sale where all hardcore books are sold at a discount of 40%. "But we dont know what a balanced media diet looks like.. Why? For a film involving high school students, filmmaker Stanley Nelson asked which students smoked marijuana. We did talk to that other person on the phone and then decided not to interview them for the film. . First and foremost the kids education is at stake. 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. 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. Similarly, both Oppenheimer's films make use of re-enactments of events in question, which some documentary purists consider questionable because they're easily changed or fabricated. They had fewer qualms about lying to public officials or to representatives of institutions than about lying to subjects. The opening . For the most part, however, when it comes to standards and ethics (and even independent fact checking), documentary filmmakers have largely depended on individual judgment, guidance from executives, and occasional conversations at film festivals and on listservs. Documentaries dont pretend to be fair and balanced.. 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. AfterHoop Dreamsbecame wildly successful, noted Gordon Quinn, Kartemquin Films shared profits (based on screen time) with everyone who had a speaking role in the film. It did not compromise an ultimate truth.. Observational Documentaries Observational documentaries aim to observe the world around them. 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. They didnt demand it, but they were right. It was so powerful. In general, documentary filmmakers tended to volunteer few comments about audio elements. Filmmakers were asked to speak about their own experiences, focusing on the recent past, rather than generalizing about the field. 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. 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. Are there music cues? The informal basis upon which they operated also reflects the ambivalence they have about ceding control and their wish to preserve their own creative interests. 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. And it wasnt, so we had to take it out. For Grierson, who incessantly strategized to garner government resources for documentary film, the phrase had strategic advantages. SeaWorld declined to cooperate with filmmakers and called the film propaganda.". 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. Co-director, Center for Media & Social Impact, American University, Peter Jaszi, This study demonstrates the need to have a more public and ongoing conversation about ethical problems in documentary filmmaking. 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. Another recalled a prolonged negotiation. This filmmaker decided to take the story out altogether: the harm that we could potentially do overwhelmed our [broadcasting rights] . 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. The whale is the subject of the 2013 documentary Blackfish., Director Gabriele Cowperthwaite, right, watches as footage is filmed for her 2013 documentary Blackfish.. 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. Up until 1960, with (director Robert Drews) Primary and the work of some others, documentaries were just lectures on film. . . Filmmakers also try to prevent material featuring their subjects from being reused by other filmmakers in ways that might misrepresent them in new contexts. If the tables were turned, God forbid, said Joe Berlinger, I would never allow them to make a film about my tragedy. the shares appreciate 10% in the first year and 25 the next. The subjective line between fact-finding and cinema is a conundrum critics recognize about Oppenheimers work even as they praise it. Ringer illustration. Symbolic tribunals?. We showed her the piece first. Everyone raised their hands. In that part, friendship wasnt helpful in making the film, even though it is during the production phase., Filmmakers accepted significant manipulation of the situation in filming without regarding it as a betrayal of viewer expectations. Its important to lift up people who tell their stories, as opposed to making them victims. They constantly face resource constraints and often are trying to behave conscientiously within a ruthlessly bottom-line business environment. This second relationship became primary in the postfilming part of the production process. 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. What is the exact area of an equilateral triangle with sides of length 10 m? The whole truth is always more complex than whats on newsprint or celluloid. However, when filmmakers did not empathize with, understand, or agree with the subjects concern, or when they believed the subject had more social power than they did, they overrode it. Furthermore, noncommercial public TV news programs explicitly placed journalistic standards above commercial mandates. how many hours will it take to produce 3000 cars? The second time, he was crying, I was crying, we were all crying. When the facts of a film are up to a single filmmaker, the truth, too, can become subject to style choices. They typically assert that an independent media is a bulwark of democracy, and that the trustof both audience and subjectis essential. Their goal was to tell the story honestly, to try to keep as emotionally truthful as possible. They strove to represent the truth of who [the subjects] are or of what the story is. In one case, a subject who had signed a release asked Stanley Nelson not to use an interview. 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. Concerns about documentary ethics are not new, but they have intensified over the past several years in response to changes in the industry. 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? 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. But ultimately it has to be our decision. In some cases I will say, If there is something that you cant live with then well discuss it, we will have the argument and real dialogue. When (filmmakers) feel we have to pick up the ball dropped by the news media, that means we will not prioritize being artists anymore. 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. The problem is, its not hard to convince people something is truthful. He most often refers to his work as art rather than journalism. Many documentary filmmakers work with people whom they have chosen and typically see themselves as stewards of the subjects stories. This is an area that we havent really worked out, where a big conversation needs to happen. Thats irrefutable evidence of the injustice thats going on and it wasnt the mainstream media that provided it, although it used it, Breyer said. As one filmmaker noted: I am in their life for a whole year. But that doesnt mean that I dont bend the truth. In one case, a filmmaker decided to withhold information about a public figures drug addiction in order to create the strongest cinematic experience. I always decide not to use that moment, said another. Filmmakers admitted to not telling the whole truth or concealing their motivation or their films true politics to get access to a subject or to get the scene you want to get. In one case, a filmmaker hid the fact from a political candidate that his film was about the opposing candidate. Because investigative journalism has been cut in American media, nonfiction filmmakers easily take on the duty of going out and pursuing deep investigations, Oppenheimer said. her less experienced colleague takes 2.0 hours to complete an inspection. For todays documentary filmmakers, it appears to grace a set of choices about narrative and purpose in the documentary. [Our subject] had one for radio; we used the audio and made a commercial [to go with the audio]. its a case-by-case example. 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. 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? For example, any kind of romantic relationship would be unacceptable. They nonetheless subscribed to shared, but unarticulated, general principles. The filmmaker believed this to misrepresent the conditions of the region. 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. By Justin Sayles Jul 9, 2021, 6:30am EDT. The growth of commercial opportunities and the prominence of politics as a documentary subject also produced tensions. The felt power differential also led them to protect their subjects when they believed they were vulnerablenot, however, at the expense of preserving their own artistic options. Anonymity permitted filmmakers to speak freely about situations that may have put them or their companies under uncomfortable scrutiny. This movie does not, however, intend to be a documentary about Presley's drug usage. Washington, DC 20016-8017, SUBJECTS: DO NO HARM, PROTECT THE VULNERABLE. . 5 7 11 17. 25. an automobile factory produces 75 cars in an hour. If there's a lawyer on your company's payroll, they're the subject matter expert for anything legal. 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. In Egypt, I had a fixer who paid everyone as we went, thats the way they do things there. In one case, for instance, a filmmaker was on location shooting a wildlife film, trying to capture one animal hunting another: We tried to shoot a few, and missed both of them. The process of film editingcollapsing actual time into screen time while shaping a film storyinvolves choices that filmmakers often consider in ethical terms. 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. 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 extreme case, for instance, the filmmaker did not protect a subject who implied that he had committed a murder. 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. 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.. Breyer urges people to inject diversity into what they watch and read. So we got one. . A filmmaker has dropped his long-planned documentary on indicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein because the subject . 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. However, even filmmakers who work with television organizations with standards and practices may not benefit from them because the programs are executed through the entertainment divisions. People who love documentaries love Netflix because the streaming . 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.