Ethical QuestionsIn Documentary Production

School of Creative Media, Professor Shannon Walsh

Ethics are not static

Signing a release form is the beginning of a discussion about responsibilities and implications

But, a release form does not ensure you have dealt ethically with your subjects

Ethics is a continual process, ongoing discussion and understanding of empathy

It is one of the key issues in documentary filmmaking

Ethics is taking responsibility.

Gordon Quinn on Ethics“There are no set rules in documentary filmmaking, only decisions about where to draw the line.”

“the documentary process relies upon a constant negotiation of power relationships among the story, subject, and viewer.”

…how to protect subjects' privacy while intimately exposing their lives, to filmmakers' responsibility to make their method and intent transparent to the audience.”

Obomsawin on Ethics“Alanis Obomsawin

(Kanehsatake: 270 Years of

Resistance) says her films

represent “the voice of our

people, which has been

silenced for many, many

hundreds of years.”

What are your invisible

assumptions & biases?

Will the world of your film recreate stereotypes and

assumptions? Who are your participants?

Class? Wealth? Poverty?

Race? Ethnicity? Gender?

Other kinds of appearances?

Sexuality? Environment?

Power structures?

Moral stance and world views?

Speaking on ‘behalf’ of others

Think about “how charity gets dispensed by the privileged,

how it can feel to the recipients, and how self-serving it can

be to imagine one is promoting someone else’s interests.”

-Michael Rabiger

“The difference in the power of filmmakers and their

subjects can often be best measured by their relative

access to the means of representation. Do subjects have

the means to represent themselves? Do they have

alternative access to the media apart from that provided

by a given filmmaker? To the extent the answer is "no,"

the filmmaker's ethical obligation to avoid

misrepresentation, exploitation and abuse rises

correspondingly.”

–Bill Nichols

Paying people?

There are many different approaches to paying participants.

As a rule, most documentarians say it is best to never pay

subjects, as it will influence their performance, but there can

be exceptions.

We are in human relationships with the people you are

filming.

Connections

Don’t make films about people you don’t like!

This isn’t a rule, but being condescending to your characters

can come across as terrible. Sometimes you need to do it,

but in general, empathy shines through.

01

Dilemmas:Nathi & the blind

Zimbabwean refugees

Segment on Ethics talks to a number of directors on their approaches.