Our responsibilities to the people we film

In today's session with our tutor, Anne, we looked into how we have to understand what issues we may face when dealing with the public and the people we want to film, but also how to be responsible and considerate when filming them in their daily lives.

Elements to be considered are:

• allowing people to have some control over how they will be portrayed
• negotiating the permission to film
• does the presence of the camera affect what is being filmed
• is the camera acknowledged or hidden
• what, who, when and where to shoot all crucial choices and may affect the viewers opinion on those filmed
• how will the contributors be perceived by the public
• how can informed consent be obtained under the influence of drugs, alcohol or mental health issues
• why might people agree to be filmed

Each of these things should be considered beforehand or when filming in order to capture honest footage that wont offend or affect anyone personally. 

One thing I think I would be concerned about would be the presence of the camera. I would want my documentary footage to be natural, and it is an obvious concern that when faced with a camera, people become nervous and can potentially change their behaviour. I would want my contributors to feel comfortable about the camera so they are more willing to be natural and not feel as though they are being filmed particularly. An obvious way to make people feel more comfortable would be to keep the camera at a good distance away from the contributor, so they don't feel as though a camera is being forced upon them, also this way you can capture more of their environment.

In the session we watched a short clip from a documentary called Social Workers, which Anne had worked on. The footage showed two individual mums that were struggling with their own problems whilst trying to raise children, which resulted in them being visited by a social worker who was trying to help them balance their lives so they can keep their children around and manage to cope with raising them. We looked at all the elements listed above in relation to this footage as a mini task to see if we can identify an answer for each one within the footage. It was interesting to watch and analyse as it made it easier to understand why each of these elements are important to consider when filming.

When planning our documentary shooting with my group, I think we should consider all of these points so we can conduct a professional environment that makes our contributors comfortable with being filmed and that they have a clear understanding of our investment in filming them and gaining information about their lives.