STUDENT PROJECT FOR DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING -

ETHICS - THE SOUL OF FILMMAKING:

This project has four parts and the focus is on demonstrating your

personal ethics in documentary filmmaking and your

communication with other individuals or groups.

• The first part deals with your contact with the participants in

your films.

• The second part deals with the contact your viewers have

with you, through the films you make and distribute.

• The third and fourth parts look at how you react to people

and groups who have a fundamental difference with your

values. The aim is to get you to privately reflect on your own

ethical behavior when confronted with conflicting values.

There are no right answers to any of the parts, they are simply an

attempt, by yourself, to understand the complexities of Ethical

behavior.

PART 1: DEALING WITH PEOPLE WHO PARTICIPATE AND

FEATURE IN YOUR FILMS

Please reflect on what you understand under the following

headings that relate to your contact and conduct with people who

become part of your films, people who open up their lives and

allow you to show those lives to the world.

Please draw on any previous experience you have with filmmaking

and make use of any specific production/s that you worked on.

Or if you are new to filmmaking, please use a film you would like

to make and use this to describe how you plan to approach the

people you will be dealing with in that production.

Please explain what you understand under each heading and then

how you intend meeting the ethical standard required.

1. Showing empathy and compassion – walking the walk in the

borrowed shoes

2. Showing respect for people’s lives and how to manage their

willingness to allow you in

3. How will you demonstrate honesty and trustworthiness in

your filmmaking

4. How to guarantee integrity in dealing with vulnerability in

people

5. How will you ensure a commitment to fairness in reflecting

accurately what you find in the lives of your participants

Please be as specific in your answers as you can. Discussing your

answers with someone you trust should help to give you some

more clarity and insight into your dealings with film participants.

PART 2: DEALING WITH PEOPLE WHO WATCH YOUR FILMS

Please reflect on what you understand under the following points

that relate to your conduct while making your films. Focus on the

people who will be watching them and how the points listed

below influences you in your filmmaking.

Please draw on any previous experience you have with filmmaking

and make use of any specific production/s that you worked on.

Or if you are new to filmmaking, please use a film you would like

to make as your example and use this to describe how you plan

to approach your film bearing your viewers in mind.

Please explain what you understand under each heading and then

how you intend meeting the ethical standard required.

1. Demonstrate respect for your viewers

2. Ensure you remain a law abiding filmmaker

3. Deliver films with a commitment to excellence

4. Show a sensitivity to viewer values

5. Maintain the central focus of your story

6. Demonstrate the honesty of your work

Please be as specific in your answers as you can. Discussing your

answers with someone you trust should help to give you some

more clarity and insight into your dealings with those people who

will be watching your films and most probably be influenced by

these.

PART 3: REFLECTING YOUR VALUES AND OPINIONS

This part asks that you reflect on a situation in which you voiced

your values/opinion in a setting where you were in conflict with

another person or group of persons.

Would you do that again in a similar situation?

And if you would, why?

Please be as specific in your answers as you can. Discussing your

answers with someone you trust should help to give you some

more clarity and insight into your dealings with those people who

have different viewpoint to those that you hold.

PART 4: NOT REFLECTING YOUR VALUES AND OPINIONS

The final part asks that you reflect on a situation in which you did

not voice your value/opinion in a setting where you were in

conflict with another person or group of persons.

Would you do that again in a similar situation?

And if you would, why?

How might you have handled the situation differently.

Please be as specific in your answers as you can. Discussing your

answers with someone you trust should help to give you some

more clarity and insight into your dealings with those people who

have different viewpoint to those that you hold.

Hein Ungerer

Filmmaker, Mentor, Trainer

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