Any documentary code of ethics that has credibility for a field with a wide range of practices must develop from a shared understanding of values, standards, and practices. 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. 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. 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? I can sort of rationalize this, that it might be killed by a natural predator. Despite its detours, this doc about the alleged 1948 massacre of a Palestinian village clicks into a sobering portrait of collective memory. 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. . They didnt demand it, but they were right. Explain the error. 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. 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. . . On June 30, Netflix debuted its latest big-ticket true-crime documentary, Sophie: A Murder in West Cork, a three-part deep dive into . Public more agency in news gathering, Cross said. So we got one. He wanted us to interview someone else as a precondition [for using his own interview], Nelson said. While tragic, the events of Silence arent something Americans are likely to read about in the news. Who is correct? 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. 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. The journalistic approach is the news comes first and story second. 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. . I feel like I approached the subject differently. The population spanned three generations. But even more valuable, Winter gives Zappa pride of place among the most important composers of the 20th century . Subject matter experts, also called SMEs, are professionals who have advanced knowledge in a specific field. It has no ethics. When the facts of a film are up to a single filmmaker, the truth, too, can become subject to style choices. 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. One filmmaker sometimes paid because it was the easiest way to get the work done. Finally, filmmakers generally expressed frustration in two areas. 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. . 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. Washington, DC 20016-8017, SUBJECTS: DO NO HARM, PROTECT THE VULNERABLE. . 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. 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. Dixon suggests viewers beware certain hallmarks designed to sway them. Making a Murderer is exploitation entertainment, Dixon said. The minute you start to pick and choose facts, youre making fiction. That lack of balance and fairness is precisely the worry for some journalists and media analysts. I said, I dont care what youre talking about, we have to put it in there . The trouble is, most viewers dont know the difference. . 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. Breyer urges people to inject diversity into what they watch and read. Would you believe an interview with Dick Cheney if you knew he was paid a hefty honorarium? Our code of ethics is very different. 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. Video sweetening, or adding in layers of sound, did not concern documentarians in generalif it was incidental. They portray themselves as storytellers who tell important truths in a world where the truths they want to tell are often ignored or hidden. Filmmakers repeatedly referenced problems with using historical materials, which document specific people, places, and times, as generic references or in service to a particular and perhaps unrelated point. 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. The terms of these releases are usually dictated by insurers, whose insurance is required for most television airing and theatrical distribution. He is still in contact with his characters, but he admitted they felt betrayed by [him] in some way. They had expected the filmmaker to protect them by not including comments they made and remembered making. One said, That is part of how you generate revenue as a filmmaker . Or would they think its fair? one filmmaker told us. We make the films we make because of these relationships we build. Some filmmakers acknowledged that they occasionally would resort to bad faith and outright deception, both with subjects and with gatekeepers who kept them from subjects. 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. People who love documentaries love Netflix because the streaming . Luc Jacquet 3. 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. The question of whether to pay subjects was of great concern to filmmakers. The difference is, if Im making a fictional film, Superman can fly. 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. 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. This second relationship became primary in the postfilming part of the production process. A more extended and vigorous conversation is needed in order to cultivate such understanding in this field of creative practice. The ongoing effort to strike a balance, and the negotiated nature of the relationship, was registered by Gordon Quinn: We say to our subjects, We are not journalists; we are going to spend years with you. They were much happier, I was much happier, and the film was better because of it.. 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. That kind of authenticity shook the tree of trust.. Not everyone who paid did so in recognition of social inequality. Director nixed Jeffrey Epstein project due to 'distasteful' subject matter. As one said, I dont want to make films where people feel like they are being trashed . One diagnostic was whether the filmmaker found the subject ethically lacking, for instance, because of politically or economically corrupt acts. . . her less experienced colleague takes 2.0 hours to complete an inspection. 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. Jon Else said: For years I never paid anyone for an interview. Its become an easy thing to do to say that we dont pay. She has organized programs with the Human Rights Film Festival, Brooklyn Museum and Film Society of Lincoln Center and currently teaches arts management at CUNY Baruch. The awareness of a power differential also leads filmmakers sometimes to volunteer to share decision-making power with some subjects. . We will show the film before it is finished. It spoke to the possibilities as well. March of the Penguins (2005) Dir. 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. In the edit room . If the tables were turned, God forbid, said Joe Berlinger, I would never allow them to make a film about my tragedy. Is somebody on the soundtrack telling you what to think? 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. 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. The filmmaker believed this to misrepresent the conditions of the region. In a certain sense there is something deceptive about that. But those kinds of distortions are often necessary to tell the story or to compress ideas that would otherwise take too long. a home goods stores sells 385 lamps in the month of July. So to use archival footage . Someone else will be culling footage from your film. A documentary is something that intends to be truthful, said Richard Breyer, Syracuse University director of documentary film and history. 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? 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. This baseline research is necessary to begin any inquiry into ethical standards because the field has not yet articulated ethical standards specific to documentary. Changes in camera technology also allowed filmmakers to capture more intimate and up-close moments cinema verite is known for, Woelfel said lighter, more portable cameras allowed the filmmakers behind "Primary" to follow John F. Kennedy and his family into cramped cars and hotel rooms, through crowds and into waiting rooms as poll results came in; places that older, more cumbersome equipment struggled to go. Of course, doing your homework and keeping up with current eLearning trends is a must. 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. News, and Im talking about TV news mostly, doesnt attempt to give people context anymore. Its part of our work and our interpretation, said one. . if the total sales of the beverages for that morning was $700, how many $3 beverages were sold, a school year begins with 24 students trying out for the basketball team 20 students trying out for the debate team. In one case, a filmmaker lacked exciting enough pictures of a particular animal from a shoot, and the executive producer substituted animals from another country. How can you tell whats true? In Egypt, I had a fixer who paid everyone as we went, thats the way they do things there. Filmmakers who thought of themselves as journalists resisted even the idea of payment. a dentist can complete a tooth canal in 1.4 hours. 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. It made the film better. Tilikum, the orca whale that killed several people while in captivity in SeaWorld. Are there music cues? In that instance, I didnt feel it would affect what he was going to say.. 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. 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. Will this 23-year-old tutor win her 23rd Jeopardy! game? . I changed it . One filmmakers client hired her to make an educational documentary for middle school kids and to leave out the fact that Americans dropped the first atomic bomb. 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 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. Were no longer seen as an institution thats fair and balanced. 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. For a film involving high school students, filmmaker Stanley Nelson asked which students smoked marijuana. I wasnt comfortable with it but I did it. 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. by working __________ the new employee hoped to prove that he could excel in his new position, the student offered information to his classmates under the _____________ of altruism, but in reality, the information was false, and he sought to ______________ their grades, the author has been criticized for the __________ views expressed in his book; while his words may have once been met with agreement; they are now met with disappointment. One struggles enough in making a good film. In one example, interviews were given and releases were signed on condition that they garble their voice and obscure their face . Julie Ha and Eugene Yi's involving documentary covers a U.S. wrongful conviction case that ultimately helped improve cultural and judicial sensitivities. Above all, Breyer said, accept that it's OK to walk away without a solution to the problems a film presents. The subjective line between fact-finding and cinema is a conundrum critics recognize about Oppenheimers work even as they praise it. He most often refers to his work as art rather than journalism. 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. . At the same time, they shared unarticulated general principles and limitations. the perilous cliff filled the hiker with___________________, but her companions urged her to _______________ her fear, upon entering the ________________ home, police officers were disgusted to see its rundown state, a group of numbers has an average of 11. the first three numbers are 16, 3, 10 what is the other number, an investor purchases shares in a company for $20 share. 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. Maybe you cant. SMEs are especially in high demand in workplaces requiring a technical approach to operations and culture. Furthermore, noncommercial public TV news programs explicitly placed journalistic standards above commercial mandates. 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. In thinking about their subjects, filmmakers typically described a relationship in which the filmmaker had more social and sometimes economic power than the subject. At its face value, colorblindness seems like a good thingreally taking MLK seriously on his call to judge people on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. They believe that they come into a situation where their subjects, whether people or animals, are relatively powerless and theyas media makershold some power. They also lacked support for ethical deliberation under typical work pressures. My test for these things is, Does the audience know what its getting? . It was so powerful. Its a powerful story, and its important plot-wise. Singled out for notice was the attention at some television networkseven when not in the news divisionto factual accuracy. She said she was trained to think of archival this way, to think that as a filmmaker, you put it out there as truth. Filmmakers thus find themselves without community norms or standards. 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. 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. At the same time, they themselves are vulnerable in a wider media system. time of the drinks were $1 each and the rest $3 each. The interview was important for the film, Nelson said, and he believed the request was motivated by desire to control the film. 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 . 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. the cryptocurrency appreciates 200% in the first year and 150% in the next. It was awkward for them but I did not want to set a precedent.. how many different combinations size design and frame possible, an investor buys stock in a company and in the twelve months after she invests the value of the stock decreases by 30%. Steven Ascher said: You could argue that cutaways in a scene filmed with one camera are a distortionyou cut from a person talking to a reaction shot, condensing or reshuffling dialogue before you cut back to the person. This distinction accords with filmmakers sensitivity to the power differential in the relationship. It would have made a fabulous turning point in the film, but I didnt include it. Here are the best documentary films of all time. As an authority in a particular area or topic, they are uniquely qualified to provide guidance and strategy. 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. When were children, we have teachers and parents who tell us that if we eat nothing but candy, well die," Woelfel said. Documentary filmmakers identified themselves as creative artists for whom ethical behavior is at the core of their projects. . . We felt it was better not to use that scene. Symbolic tribunals?. Breyer pointed to witness footage of police killings of black men like Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Walter Scott over the past two years as an example. The whale is the subject of the 2013 documentary Blackfish., Director Gabriele Cowperthwaite, right, watches as footage is filmed for her 2013 documentary Blackfish.. The interview pool consisted of 41 directors or producer-directors who had released at least two productions at a national level and who have authorial control. The opening . 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. . There are some filmmakers who love the down and dirtyI found a fool and I will show them as a fool. This is justified sometimes, but its often abusive of your power., Filmmakers also recognized limits to the obligation to the subject. . 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. 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. 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. 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. Experts say there are some easy ways to become more media literate to help audiences siphon fact and fiction in documentaries and journalism. She pushed for inclusion. how many hours will it take to produce 3000 cars? 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. [You have to be] obsessively careful. Documentary filmmakers typically are small business owners, selling their work to a range of distributors, mostly in television. 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. 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. I used it, and Im sure 99 percent of the people who watched the film thought it was him and his family. . For Grierson, who incessantly strategized to garner government resources for documentary film, the phrase had strategic advantages. . 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. 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. I sacrificed a little bit of accuracy. We loved the texture of the campaign commercials for various candidates. . Controversies emerged about several documentaries. . a safety specialist can complete an inspection in .5 hours. Its an accepted norm to pay fees. A journalist wouldnt show you the footage. Filmmakers felt frustrated that stations did not always honor the agreements they had made with their subjects. the DP [director of photography] was sitting there, saying No, Im sure you wouldnt want to do it, but nodding his head yes. After I wrapped, I felt like a real shit for the rest of the day, felt like I manipulated him for my personal gain. 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. And you want to be honorable. 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. 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. These developments often troubled documentarians: [Facts] are not verified . what is the price of the stock after two years, a coffee shop sold 300 beverages during one morning shift. Some filmmakers were adamant that only precisely accurate images should be used. But part of this subject matter is the graphic depiction of the attitude of the youths as they beat the man; they are represented as enjoying their act of brutality. 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. If its nonfiction, I need strong evidence to prove he can.. not looking at archival footage as a document of a particular time and place, becomes problematic. Peter Miller noted that. Following were situations that called forth filmmaker concern about ethical relationships with the audience. 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. . One said, If you add birds chirping to facilitate the story, the birds are inconsequential to the audience misunderstanding the scene, it helps them enter the moment. However, a few noted that audio that changed the meaningfor instance, adding the sound of gunshots to a scenewas regarded as inappropriate. I was making a film about someone who was not loved . If you abuse this, then you wont get access to people for the next project.. So many people only pay attention to material they agree with.. If its 1958 Manila . 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. 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 survey demonstrated that filmmakers generally are acutely aware of moral dimensions of their craft, and of the economic and social pressures that affect them. They had fewer qualms about lying to public officials or to representatives of institutions than about lying to subjects. 5 7 11 17. 25. an automobile factory produces 75 cars in an hour.

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the documentary became popular due to its subject matter

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