the documentary became popular due to its subject matter

One filmmaker sometimes paid because it was the easiest way to get the work done. 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. I regret it. Unbeknownst to me, the [animal wrangler] broke the next rabbits leg, so it couldnt run. In this case, they worked for a good-faith relationship that would not put their subjects at risk or cause them to be worse off than they were before the relationship began. 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. . . Then she was OK.. This distinction accords with filmmakers sensitivity to the power differential in the relationship. 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. The Times described the documentary not only as focusing on women in politics, but more specifically on women of color, their communities, and the significant changes they have wrought upon America. 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. 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 a world where people deny the Holocaust, you dont want to give wind to that fire. 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%. By Justin Sayles Jul 9, 2021, 6:30am EDT. It shocks us with that quaking moment of recognition, Oppenheimer said. . The growth of commercial opportunities and the prominence of politics as a documentary subject also produced tensions. 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. 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. I used it, and Im sure 99 percent of the people who watched the film thought it was him and his family. Experts say that it's no coincidence that documentary films are enjoying boosted popularity at a time when trust in the media is at an all-time low. Jon Else said: For years I never paid anyone for an interview. Entire Agreement. Great journalism shouldnt, either., Copyright 2023 Deseret News Publishing Company. Would you believe an interview with Dick Cheney if you knew he was paid a hefty honorarium? Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law. 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. Should films such asGhosts of Abu GhraibandStandard Operating Procedurefeature images that further embarrass and humiliate their subjects? 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. 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. . In relation to subjects, they often did not feel obliged to protect subjects who they believed had themselves done harm or who had independent access to media, such as celebrities or corporate executives with their own public relations arms. Click hereto view or download a PDF of this report. Everyone raised their hands. That makes me uncomfortable; it puts them at risk.. 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. 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. . 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. 25\ m ^ { 2 } } \end{array}\quad \begin{array} { l } {C. 10 \sqrt { 3 }\ m ^ { 2 } } \\ {D. 5 \sqrt { 3 }\ m ^ { 2 } } \end{array} . 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. 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. A.253m2B.25m2C.103m2D.53m2\begin{array} { l } {A. They nonetheless subscribed to shared, but unarticulated, general principles. The ethical conflicts they face loom large precisely because nonfiction filmmakers believe that they carry large responsibilities. As documentary production becomes more generalized, and as public affairs become ever more participatory, the question of what ethical norms exist and can be shared is increasingly important. 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. Narrative structure sometimes mandates manipulation, which they often but not always found uncomfortable. Its become an easy thing to do to say that we dont pay. 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. Director nixed Jeffrey Epstein project due to 'distasteful' subject matter. inaccurately, for mood or tone, . The trouble is, most viewers dont know the difference. I have to be careful not to abuse the friendship with the subject, but its a rapport that is somewhat false, said one. The producer who lines up subjects or oversees production is often separated from editing and postproduction. As one said, I dont want to make films where people feel like they are being trashed . When documentary filmmakers do have to make their own ethical decisions, how do they reason? He justified it by the result: Ultimately there is a story to be told, you may have to make these compromises. . 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 . 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 . This filmmaker decided to take the story out altogether: the harm that we could potentially do overwhelmed our [broadcasting rights] . . The Economist reports that documentaries now make up 16 percent of the Cannes Film Festival slate, compared to about 8 percent in 2008. In most cases, documentarians believed strongly in making informal commitments and employing situational ethics determined on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes filmmakers are constrained by contract, but far more often they are constrained by the fear that openly discussing ethical issues will expose them to risk of censure or may jeopardize the next job. So we got one. They eschew conflict of interest. That kind of authenticity shook the tree of trust.. 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. 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. Are they works of art? 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 difference is, if Im making a fictional film, Superman can fly. If there's a lawyer on your company's payroll, they're the subject matter expert for anything legal. . Notably, this attitude does not extend to celebrities, whom filmmakers found to be aggressive and powerful in controlling their image. Of course, doing your homework and keeping up with current eLearning trends is a must. . 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. 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. 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? Watch documentaries that dont align with your opinion, Breyer said. That is the most deliberate falsification Ive ever done . 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. They constantly face resource constraints and often are trying to behave conscientiously within a ruthlessly bottom-line business environment. That paradigm isnt going to stand any longer.. He wanted us to interview someone else as a precondition [for using his own interview], Nelson said. In the edit room . I sacrificed a little bit of accuracy. 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. Occasionally filmmakers even shared film profits with the subjects, although not as a contractual matter from the start. what would be the next number in the following series 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. Are there music cues? Here are the best documentary films of all time. . Documentaries dont pretend to be fair and balanced.. When (filmmakers) feel we have to pick up the ball dropped by the news media, that means we will not prioritize being artists anymore. 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? If its nonfiction, I need strong evidence to prove he can.. 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. 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 . This DPA may be amended and the observance of any provision of this DPA may be waived . Filmmakers thus find themselves without community norms or standards. Center for Media & Social ImpactSchool of Communication,American University4400 Massachusetts Ave NW 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. They may be encouraged to alter the story to pump up the excitement, the conflict, or the danger. The awareness of a power differential also leads filmmakers sometimes to volunteer to share decision-making power with some subjects. Ken Burns recalled having to decide between two photographs to illustrate the point that Huey Long was often surrounded by bodyguards. To me the difference is that journalism offers us a window into new information and ideally tries to put it into context so it can be useful somehow. One filmmaker said that she tries to be as authentic as possible, down to the year and the place. What are their concerns? a store has a sale where all hats are sold at a discount of 40%. 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. A new mini documentary, released Thursday on YouTube by crypto consulting firm Emfarsis and gaming company Yield Guild Games called "Play-to-Earn," follows several Filipino people who play the . Tilikum, the orca whale that killed several people while in captivity in SeaWorld. Gallup reports that just 40 percent of Americans trust . 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. 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. For todays documentary filmmakers, it appears to grace a set of choices about narrative and purpose in the documentary. 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. 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. The differing styles of documentary and injection of cinematic elements that arguably make them more interesting has made it harder to define documentary and its goals even among professionals, no two definitions of a documentary are quite the same. It was awkward for them but I did not want to set a precedent.. In one case, a filmmaker decided to withhold information about a public figures drug addiction in order to create the strongest cinematic experience. 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? 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. In 2021 yet. Although the result was unintentional, he also felt no remorse. At our school, we define it as the luxury of time to research and present subject matter in an in-depth fashion with the rigors of journalism involved, Woelfel said. This baseline research is necessary to begin any inquiry into ethical standards because the field has not yet articulated ethical standards specific to documentary. Julie Ha and Eugene Yi's involving documentary covers a U.S. wrongful conviction case that ultimately helped improve cultural and judicial sensitivities. [30] This higher truth or a sociological truth inadvertently invoked documentary pioneer John Griersons description of documentary as a creative treatment of actuality. Grierson used this flexible term to permit a wide range of actions and approaches ranging from re-enactment to highly selective storytellingindeed, even outright government propaganda. We felt it was better not to use that scene. 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. 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. The process of film editingcollapsing actual time into screen time while shaping a film storyinvolves choices that filmmakers often consider in ethical terms. Documentary filmmakers typically are small business owners, selling their work to a range of distributors, mostly in television. Every organization has its own host of subject matter experts. 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. Advertisement. 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. I made the decision, let them break it. We want to have a human relationship with our subjects, said Gordon Quinn, but there are boundaries that should not be crossed. smallest value. I wanted to learn more about why she did the awful things . Video sweetening, or adding in layers of sound, did not concern documentarians in generalif it was incidental. 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. . 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. by what amount will the value of the stock need to go up from there in order that the price of the stock will be equal to what the investor first paid for it, David C. Lay, Judi J. McDonald, Steven R. Lay, Statistical Techniques in Business and Economics, Douglas A. Lind, Samuel A. Wathen, William G. Marchal, Arthur David Snider, Edward B. Saff, R. Kent Nagle. The core data was gathered in long-form, hour-long interviews, grounded in open-ended questions, conducted usually by phone. The Economist reports that documentaries now make up 16 percent of the Cannes Film Festival slate, compared to about 8 percent in 2008. Is the filmmaker the center of this film? In both cases, militating against what filmmakers might prefer personally to do was the obligation to complete a compelling and honest documentary story within budget. I feel like I approached the subject differently. The ethical conflicts put in motion by these features of a filmmakers embattled-truth-teller identity are, ironically for a truth-telling community, unable to be widely shared or even publicly discussed in most individual cases. if the regular price od the book is $25, how many books could be bought at the sale price if a shopper spent $105? It did not compromise an ultimate truth.. 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. DidMighty Times: The Childrens Marchmisrepresent civil rights history through its use of both fabricated and repurposed archival evidence? Some filmmakers, however, did give subjects the right to decide whether or not their material should be included in the film. One of the most effective approaches for how to become a Subject Matter Expert in eLearning is to hone your skills. 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. 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. 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. 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. . This movie does not, however, intend to be a documentary about Presley's drug usage. One filmmaker recalled omitting a section on request. This second relationship became primary in the postfilming part of the production process. She pushed for inclusion. 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. . One struggles enough in making a good film. Is somebody on the soundtrack telling you what to think? 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. 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.