This past semester I was in a documentary filmmaking class. The whole point of the class was to spend a semester creating a mini documentary. As part of the course material, we talked about ethics in filmmaking.
Today's culture has become obsessed with documentaries. Netflix has been a huge proponent of documentaries and have been producing many documentaries for the public. Documentaries are relatively cheap and quick to produce which has made documentaries more accessible to many filmmakers.
My roommates and I are huge fans of documentaries and regularly throw one on while in the living room together. Being a filmmaker, it can be so difficult for me to just watch and film without thinking about all that has gone into films and what is going on behind the scenes.
After taking Documentary Filmmaking this struggle has elevated. Every choice and decision you make in filmmaking is an ethical decision.
My documentary was not one of exposing a situation or uncovering something bad. It was highlighting the work and lives of people.
I was following the lives and story of two elderly veterans. These men welcomed me into their homes, allowed me film them, and drill them with questions about some of the most difficult moments of their lives.
Maybe it's because I'm a filmmaker and I'm keenly aware of the conversations and decisions that go on behind the scenes of a film but there's something so scary about allowing yourself to be filmed by someone and then allowing them to use it in their project without your supervision or approval of what they do with it.
I was nervous for a number of reasons, these men were older. I was worried they were giving me consent without fully knowing what they were getting themselves into. They didn't know technology and editing abilities the way a younger generation does. Was I going to offend, upset, or violate them somehow?
I had established a relationship with them. Their wives baked me cookies and offered juice during the shoot.
After filming their interviews, I took the footage into the editing room and suddenly this documentary became incredibly difficult. I had 40+ minutes of footage for each of these men where they poured out their hearts to me and the camera.
I was struck by the reality that the people on screen are real people.
How was I going to cut these interviews into a 13 minute film while upholding the integrity of their words? How can I accurately represent a person in that short of a time? You can't. But my audience will only know and judge the 4 minutes that they see of these people. No person should be judged or known based on 4 minutes of footage that a 21 year old filmed of them.
Some of the final questions of my interview was the hardest hitting and most emotional questions. One of my interviewees cried as he told his story. When he finished talking, I didn't know what to do. I had gotten all the footage I needed. And I honestly already knew that these tears were the money shot for my film, but it felt terrible packing up the equipment and getting in my car after that knowing I'd probably never see them again in my life.
Grab the tears and go. What a terrible way to be a filmmaker, but what other option do I have?
I struggled with that for a long time. I got to a point where I almost felt that I shouldn't use any of the footage. I felt I was dealing with too vulnerable of a population and I struggled with how and what I should cut out or leave in.
In class my professor and classmates spent a lot of time discussing this for each of our individual documentaries and we walked through these conversations together. Ultimately, we decided that no documentary is without bias. Every cut, each choice of font, music, and color grading has intention behind it. We use these tools to shape perception and influence the emotions of our audience.
Is it ethical? I don't really know.
But I do know that as a filmmaker, it's important that I am having these conversations to make sure I am making ethical decisions. It could be so easy to be dishonest, disrespectful, and tell a story that isn't really there.
As a consumer of media, be keenly aware of how filmmakers are trying to make you think or feel. No piece of media is neutral. No documentary is objective.
コメント