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. 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. As an authority in a particular area or topic, they are uniquely qualified to provide guidance and strategy. Anonymity was important to many, especially to those working directly and currently for large organizations. Rather the opposite, in fact: faced with evidence of or a decision for inaccuracy or manipulation, they often moved the truth to a higher conceptual level, that of higher truth.. 25 \sqrt { 3 }\ m ^ { 2 } } \\ {B. The growth of commercial opportunities and the prominence of politics as a documentary subject also produced tensions. Clockwise from top left: Casting JonBenet; Homecoming, Dirty Money, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead; Miss Americana; Jim & Andy. I changed it . 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. 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. March of the Penguins (2005) Dir. What I think makes a documentary is attempting to tell a story in a way that helps, but it doesnt always adhere to the rules of journalism, Cross said. They portray themselves as storytellers who tell important truths in a world where the truths they want to tell are often ignored or hidden. They take you to places that you will never see in the so-called mainstream media. But they can also be manipulated.. 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. I sacrificed a little bit of accuracy. 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. 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. It was so powerful. If journalism is like a window, art is like a mirror to confront our deepest mysteries.. To look at a homicide that happened seven years ago, and look at who did itits good entertainment. But Im reconsidering, after seeing the good sense of Errol Morris paying his subjects inStandard Operating Procedure. We want to build him up as a hero and show the fall.. . [30] But I feel like its important to get the big-picture truth of the situation on camera. At the same time, they themselves are vulnerable in a wider media system. 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. Another argued that letting subjects, especially celebrities or other people with social power, have input would threaten the credibility of the final product: I dont think the film stays credible if subjects are approving their sound bites, said filmmaker Maggie Burnette Stogner. That is the most deliberate falsification Ive ever done . A filmmaker has dropped his long-planned documentary on indicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein because the subject . 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 . an=(4.5,2,0.5,3,5.5,)?a_n=(4.5,2,-0.5,-3,-5.5,\ldots)? "Primary" was one of the first documentaries to espouse cinema verite documentary style, which allows filmmakers creative flexibility in telling a story, such as the use of voiceover, perhaps telling a story out of chronological order or allowing the filmmaker to become a part of the movie by telling the story through their eyes. 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. Its too misleading to the audience. They also respected broadcasters fact-checking departments, and some found that people in those departments were willing to push back against network pressures to fudge facts or artificially enhance drama. Narrative structure sometimes mandates manipulation, which they often but not always found uncomfortable. Filmmakers also face pressure to inflate drama or character conflict and to create drama where no natural drama exists. smallest value. 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. After I wrapped, I felt like a real shit for the rest of the day, felt like I manipulated him for my personal gain. When you have a scene or moment in the film, you may realize its just a great moment, and then you realize the subject doesnt want that moment on screen. 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. Ken Burns recalled having to decide between two photographs to illustrate the point that Huey Long was often surrounded by bodyguards. We will show the film before it is finished. But that doesnt mean that I dont bend the truth. Documentary filmmakers typically are small business owners, selling their work to a range of distributors, mostly in television. Many even see themselves as executors of a higher truth, framed within a narrative. Subject matter experts, also called SMEs, are professionals who have advanced knowledge in a specific field. 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. 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. what is the average number of book sold per month during the five month period, which of the following is the largest value. 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. I made the decision, let them break it. Although the result was unintentional, he also felt no remorse. However, what I will call the content of a film often contains something further. They may be encouraged to alter the story to pump up the excitement, the conflict, or the danger. Still another grappled with this issue in the editing room: I was complaining to someone [that] I feel some allegiance to them, and the person said that at this point your only allegiance should be with the audience. 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. Center for Media & Social ImpactSchool of Communication,American University4400 Massachusetts Ave NW Most kept filming and postponed the decision of whether or not to use the footage. He justified it by the result: Ultimately there is a story to be told, you may have to make these compromises. In still another case, an HIV-positive mother addicted to drugs asked filmmakers not to reveal where she lives. This movie does not, however, intend to be a documentary about Presley's drug usage. 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. The problem is, its not hard to convince people something is truthful. Its increasingly entertainment. . The process of film editingcollapsing actual time into screen time while shaping a film storyinvolves choices that filmmakers often consider in ethical terms. In journalistic practice, payment is usually forbidden for fear of tainting the information garnered. a dentist can complete a tooth canal in 1.4 hours. he didnt have family photos. 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 filmmaker decided to exclude this information from the film. 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. And it wasnt, so we had to take it out. For a film involving high school students, filmmaker Stanley Nelson asked which students smoked marijuana. What are their concerns? 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. M. Night Shyamalan decided to make the 2017 horror film, Split, on a budget of only $9 million, which proved to be a fantastic decision. Why? The larger truth is that this conversation is going to happen in this city, at some point, and so it doesnt matter that it doesnt happen at this moment. . 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. They daily felt the lack of clarity and standards in ethical practice. Everyone raised their hands. 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. WasFahrenheit 9/11accurate in its factual indictment of the Bush administrations geopolitics? To achieve those goals, standards uphold accuracy, fairness, and obeying of law, including privacy law. Furthermore, noncommercial public TV news programs explicitly placed journalistic standards above commercial mandates. Pat Aufderheide, One filmmaker sometimes paid because it was the easiest way to get the work done. Are there music cues? [Our subject] had one for radio; we used the audio and made a commercial [to go with the audio]. In the edit room . They sometimes deal with hostile gatekeepers or powerful celebrity subjects. 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. 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. Ultimately Im not of that position. " Free Chol Soo Lee " charts the . Or would they think its fair? one filmmaker told us. 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. The second time, he was crying, I was crying, we were all crying. Observational Documentaries Observational documentaries aim to observe the world around them. 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. 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. By Justin Sayles Jul 9, 2021, 6:30am EDT. One featured his typical bodyguards, in street clothes. The whole truth is always more complex than whats on newsprint or celluloid. not looking at archival footage as a document of a particular time and place, becomes problematic. Peter Miller noted that. "Zappa" gives its subject his well-earned due within the rock firmament. In general, documentary filmmakers tended to volunteer few comments about audio elements. You always have to be aware of the power that you as a filmmaker have in relationship to your subject. At the same time, they recognized that professional obligations might force them at least to cause pain. Accompanying the represented sub-ject matter is the film's attitude toward its . In one extreme case, for instance, the filmmaker did not protect a subject who implied that he had committed a murder. 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 . One of the most effective approaches for how to become a Subject Matter Expert in eLearning is to hone your skills. At the same time, many of the filmmakers surveyed spoke of commercial pressures, particularly in the cable business, to make decisions they believed to be unethical. 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. Is somebody on the soundtrack telling you what to think? her less experienced colleague takes 2.0 hours to complete an inspection. 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. They didnt demand it, but they were right. Its important to lift up people who tell their stories, as opposed to making them victims. A documentary goes the other way, Breyer said. within last week 6 students have dropped out of the basketball team and 2 students have dropped out of the debate tryouts. 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 . But if you want to really explore it, you have to shape and bend. . 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. 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. 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. Notably, this attitude does not extend to celebrities, whom filmmakers found to be aggressive and powerful in controlling their image. As one filmmaker noted: I am in their life for a whole year. . the documentary became popular due to its subject matter, it dealt with sensitive topic but _____ the information in a palatable way surmised a bookstore has a sale where all hardcore books are sold at a discount of 40%. Originating in the 1960s alongside advances in portable film equipment, the Cinma Vrit -style is much less pointed than the expository approach. What hes done isnt quite documentary filmmaking, but it certainly isnt fiction either, Slate Magazine film critic Dana Stevens wrote of Oppenheimers work. All interviewees were provided with a consent form that had been approved by the American University Institutional Review Board, and all were offered anonymity. In that instance, I didnt feel it would affect what he was going to say.. her less experienced colleague takes 1.6 hours to complete a root canal. Experts say that its no coincidence that documentary films are enjoying boosted popularity at a time when trust in the media is at an all-time low. . In one case, a subject who had signed a release asked Stanley Nelson not to use an interview. Filmmakers felt frustrated that stations did not always honor the agreements they had made with their subjects. Every organization has its own host of subject matter experts. How much do their own reasoning processes correlate with existing journalism codes? what percentage of the remaining employees are in team A, what is the average of the following numbers 1, 4, 8, 17, in a retail store with 36 employees, 26 work with costumers, 11 work in the warehouse and 4 do neither. Who is it and how they are using it is also important, because as a small independent [filmmaker] you are personally accountable. . They believe that they come into a situation where their subjects, whether people or animals, are relatively powerless and theyas media makershold some power. . if the regular price of the hats is 25$, how many hats could be bought at the sale price it a shopper spent 105? 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. Its part of our work and our interpretation, said one. how much money did she generate in drink sales during this time? [You have to be] obsessively careful. I wanted to learn more about why she did the awful things . While Silence and its companion film, The Act of Killing, are both generally categorized as documentary films (Silence was nominated for an Academy Award in that category earlier this year), Oppenheimer dismisses that label, preferring the term nonfiction film" because he recognizes the cinematic elements of his films that have helped popularize the genre like re-enactments. This distinction accords with filmmakers sensitivity to the power differential in the relationship. Julie Ha and Eugene Yi's involving documentary covers a U.S. wrongful conviction case that ultimately helped improve cultural and judicial sensitivities. Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law. Its a powerful story, and its important plot-wise. Tilikum, the orca whale that killed several people while in captivity in SeaWorld. Saying this blurry figure is not our guy would ruin the scene, said Peter Miller. The minute you start to pick and choose facts, youre making fiction. 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. . how many hours will it take to produce 3000 cars? 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. Here are the best documentary films of all time. 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. . Especially on a historical documentary, I keep to the facts. She pushed for inclusion. They also lacked support for ethical deliberation under typical work pressures. It shocks us with that quaking moment of recognition, Oppenheimer said. . A June 2020 article in The New York Times reviewed the political documentary And She Could Be Next, directed by Grace Lee and Marjan Safinia. Jon Else said: For years I never paid anyone for an interview. We showed her the piece first. Those are pretty boring, Woelfel said. If its 1958 Manila . 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. The Economist reports that documentaries now make up 16 percent of the Cannes Film Festival slate, compared to about 8 percent in 2008. inaccurately, for mood or tone, . Making a Murderer is exploitation entertainment, Dixon said. And Im not sure thats a bad thing.. 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. Also included were four executive producers in national television programming organizations. if the cost per dozen eggs rises to $1.80, how much more will the restaurant have to pay for eggs per week, based on the ______________ behavior and _________________ toward service staff exhibited by the job applicant before his interview, the hiring manager decided not to move forward with his application. 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. . what would be the next number in the following series But for us to inflict pain to get a better shot was the wrong thing to do. He most often refers to his work as art rather than journalism. 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. For Grierson, who incessantly strategized to garner government resources for documentary film, the phrase had strategic advantages. 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. I had to do it. While some said that they would never lie to a subject about what they were doing in the film, many believed that the decision needed to be taken on a case-by-case basis, considering the goal of the film and the relationship with the viewer. 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. His promotion of the term has been criticized, by scholar Brian Winston, among others, for allowing ethical choices to go unexamined. We make the films we make because of these relationships we build. At the same time, some people encouraged us to make their stories public and volunteered use of their names. That lack of balance and fairness is precisely the worry for some journalists and media analysts. Who is correct? The ethical conflicts they face loom large precisely because nonfiction filmmakers believe that they carry large responsibilities. At the end of the day, it became a mother-son deal and they worked it out. In this case, the filmmakers objective was maintaining the relationship and salvaging key footage. Unbeknownst to me, the [animal wrangler] broke the next rabbits leg, so it couldnt run. [Our broadcaster] asked if it was real. This filmmaker decided to take the story out altogether: the harm that we could potentially do overwhelmed our [broadcasting rights] . . On June 30, Netflix debuted its latest big-ticket true-crime documentary, Sophie: A Murder in West Cork, a three-part deep dive into . Explain the error. For example, any kind of romantic relationship would be unacceptable. . 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? They nonetheless subscribed to shared, but unarticulated, general principles. I am keenly aware of the hypocrisy of asking someone for access that I myself would probably not grant. They let you be there as their life unfolds, said Steven Ascher, and that carries with it a responsibility to try to anticipate how the audience will see them, and at times to protect them when necessary., I often think, Let me be this person watching the film. Would they hate me? Video sweetening, or adding in layers of sound, did not concern documentarians in generalif it was incidental. 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. Vietnam veteran and biker Ron " Stray Dog " Hall is the subject of "Winter's Bone" director Debra Granik's documentary debut "Stray Dog," which follows Hall's bike club on a . In Egypt, I had a fixer who paid everyone as we went, thats the way they do things there. . 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. 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. Then, its got our companys name on it. 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. In thinking about their subjects, filmmakers typically described a relationship in which the filmmaker had more social and sometimes economic power than the subject. In a certain sense there is something deceptive about that. The producer who lines up subjects or oversees production is often separated from editing and postproduction. This study explores those questions. A documentary is something that intends to be truthful, said Richard Breyer, Syracuse University director of documentary film and history. So we got one. 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. (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. Thats an advocacy piece where people come on camera and say, This is terrible and the other side doesnt want to comment because it will demolish them, Dixon 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. The reason we still talk about [this] is because it was a perfect ethical conundrum. Ringer illustration. Its one of those areas where our responsibility to our audience and our responsibility to our subjects can be at odds. They said it will be upsetting for children, and that the films point is solely to talk about material science. September 2009 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. 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. Filmmakers need to share both experience and vocabulary and to be able to question their own and others decision-making processes without encountering prohibitive risk. They didnt garble the voice but did obscure the face. Joshua Oppenheimer, left, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary film The Act of Killing, poses with the films producer Signe Byrge Sorensen at a reception featuring the Oscar nominees in the Documentary Feature and Documentary Short Subject categories on Feb. 26, 2014, in Beverly Hills, Calif. A scene from Joshua Oppenheimers documentary The Look of Silence. Courtesy of Drafthouse Films and Participant Media. We want to have a human relationship with our subjects, said Gordon Quinn, but there are boundaries that should not be crossed. . It did not compromise an ultimate truth.. Filmmakers were asked to speak about their own experiences, focusing on the recent past, rather than generalizing about the field.
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