Ethics in Filmmaking
One of the integral things that must be addressed when making a film is the ethics involved. Ethics are a constant issue that have to be carefully considered when filmmaking. This difficult decision-making is highly prevalent in that of documentaries, because of the difficulties associated in filming ‘real people’ or “social actors, (Nichols, 2001).” More importantly, the issues faced by a filmmaker differ between each of the documentary modes. Each particular documentary mode poses different formal choices that must be made in order to operate in an ethical fashion. Two films that have been made both display examples of how ethics must be considered when embarking on a documentary are Etre at Avoir [To Be and to Have], (2001) and Capturing the Friedmans (2003). These films have been made in different documentary modes, highlighting that there is not one mode which is easier or has fewer ethical issues associated with it. Additionally, what must be considered is how these style choices in these different modes affect the power relationships between the filmmaker, the subject and its audience, (Nichols, 2001).
The importance of ethics when making a film is paramount. They exist in the filmmaking world to “govern the conduct [because] no hard and fast rules suffice, (Nichols, 2001). As Bill Nichols has argued, the essential question to consider when making a documentary is “How Should We Treat the People We Film (Nichols, 2001)?” The welfare of the people who participate in the film is vital to recognise because they are “cultural players rather than theatrical performers, (Nichols, 2001)”, they are conveying is real life according to them. Each of their movements and words are not scripted, and are real. A filmmaker is documenting their actual lives because they believe that the value lies in presenting something of interest to themselves and to its audience. It is because of this reality that the issue is much more important because it “adds a level of ethical consideration to documentary that is much less prominent in fiction filmmaking, (Nichols, 2001).” People are portraying their real selves and are not masked by a personality that has been asked of them to depict by a director. What must also be considered is how attending to the ethics of filmmaking is the benefits that it holds for the filmmakers and the audience. “Ethica...
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...hly successful child-entertainer, would obviously encounter future problems because of his association to his father and brother. However, as David Friedman is capable of understanding what could result the responsibility lies largely with his choice to participate in the film.
Ethics are a constant issue that are raised when embarking on a film, particularly when filming a documentary. It is most important to consider the subjects in the film and what content will be portrayed to the audience. The ethical choices that occur within each documentary mode are somewhat similar but manifest differently within each mode. There is a careful balance between choices of power and style that needs to be created between the filmmaker, the subject and the audience in order to produce an ethically sound film.
Bibliography
1. Nichols, Bill. ‘Why are Ethical Issues Central to Documentary Filmmaking?’ Introduction to Documentary. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2001, p1-20
2. Nichols, Bill. ‘Documentary Modes of Representation (The Observational Mode).’ Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary. Bloomington & Indianapolis; Indiana University Press. 1991. 38-44
In Rushworth Kidder’s book “How Good People Make Tough Choices,” Kidder provides a series of different methods, codes and examples of what being an ethical journalist could mean. He gives examples of different situations where a person’s ethics are tested and what would be a good way to deal with these situations. He starts by explaining the difference between things that are right-versus-right dilemmas, and those that are right-versus-wrong dilemmas.
This report aims to make light of certain elements of documentary making that are perhaps more susceptible to influence on the director’s part, and once again explore the effect of these decisions on the audience’s reaction to the information presented.
Though it may be argued that the making of this film was wrong, I believe that its creation was ethically right. It is understandable that the graphic nature of the documentary and the explicit content may have been off-putting to some audiences, but filming Paradise Lost allowed important details and inconsistencies - that would have otherwise been overlooked or ignored - to be documented and scrutinized. It was important that the public was made aware of all aspects of the case, instead of taking the police allegations at face value because it is important for people to know the truth about the communities they live in. By showing the public the harsh unfair ju...
Banning, L. (Producer), Milos, F. (Director) (1996). Research Methods for the Social Sciences. [Film]. (Available from Horizon Film and Video, Austin, TX)
This documentary as nominated for the Best Feature Documentary Academy Award. It showed the world the actual crimes and events that were happening in society that otherwise would have been overlooked after the initial shock. The moral, values and importance of these events being spread by mass communication can lead to awareness and hopefully avoidance of familiar events in the
I realized that sometimes it is fine for things to just be, and I don’t know why. Much of the film has to do with how we think, and what we do in private. Collectively, through these moral and ethical acts (or lack thereof) we can impact the public. Also, by sharing these thoughts and concepts with the public in the documentary, it can affect our thoughts and actions in our private lives; I know it has, at least for myself. One of the earliest topics in the film that I took note of was the ethics of certain matters, in a way that I had never considered before.
There is no secret that films in the genre of biopic can often stretch the truth. These types of movies are frequently mere depictions of myth that is loosely based on factual accounts rather than being accurate representations of history. Many ethical dilemmas arise from these circumstances. Among those are the damaging representations that may skew a viewer’s perception of how history may have actually played out. Should filmmakers warn viewers that certain historical details of their forthcoming motion picture have been changed for the purpose of film? What are the editorial ethics when important details pertaining to vital pieces of history are left on the proverbial cutting room floor? The brand new film “Cesar Chavez” does a lot of work to bring about the often untold story of the California migrant farmworkers labor activism and organizing, yet in the process, manages to erase the pertinent contributions of the Filipino who many consider as the pioneers of these movements.
Documentary has been heavily associated as a representation of the truth and reality due to its absence of fictional elements and control by the filmmaker (Chapman, 2009). It aims to entice the audience perception of the information presented as fundamental and legitimate (Beattie, 2004). With today's technology, the question of manipulated facts and proclaimed evidences presented in documentaries has heightened concerns in providing the audience with the truth and the real. Hence, with reference to the documentary on "Biggie and Tupac" (2002) directed by Nick Broomfield, we will explore how the documentary has managed to capture the real in terms of structure, style and modes of documentary.
As per request of the first assignment of this course, I watched the movie “A Civil Action” starring John Travolta (Jan Schlichtmann), as a plaintiff’s lawyer and Robert Duvall (Jerome Facher) and Bruce Norris (William Cheeseman) as the defendant’s lawyers of W.R. Grace and J Riley Leather companies. The movie depicted the court case fought in the 1980’s among the previously mentioned companies and the residents of Woburn a little town located in Massachusetts. After watching the movie, an analysis using the ethical tools reflected in the chapter 1 of the course textbook will be used to portray the ethical issues of the movie.
As a viewer, the documentary’s intention to inform is more completely fulfilled by research conducted beyond the scope of the camera lens. Had I never written this paper, for instance, the reason for all the violence embedded within the subject matter would remain as enigmatic as the documentary itself.
Valenti, F. Miguel. More Than a Movie : Ethics in Entertainment. Colorado: Westview Press, 2000
Thiroux, Jacques P., and Keith W. Krasemann. Ethics: Theory and Practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.
Boylan, M. (2009). Basic ethics: Basic ethics in action (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Gig, edited by John Bowe, Marisa Bowe, and Sabin Streeter, is a book with a collection of interviews of people describing what their job is like. One of the interviews deals with a film development assistant, Jerrold Thomas. This interview in particular raises questions which leads readers to ask why he stays at his current job and what opportunities are in the future for him. He hopes to become something bigger in the film industry and even went to film school, but is now stuck as an assistant. It is surprising to see him working for someone who treats him so badly, but yet still not leave. “The Meaning of Ethics” by Philip Wheelwright is an essay that explains seven different phases used in a moral deliberation. Each of them have their own purpose and help us make ethical decisions. Wheelwright’s assertion that an ethical person has to rationalize the consequences and imagine themselves into a predicted situation helps explain why Thomas continues working as a film development assistant even if he is being treated unfairly and is hoping opportunities for him arise.
Williams, Linda. “Mirrors without Memories. Truth, History, and the New Documentary.” Film Quarterly 46.3 (1993): 9-21.