database-documentary

Risk Assessment

Using the idea of our 'The Showman', then there are certain risks that need to be assessed before we go on the road to shoot the documentary.

Wires - Could trip over the wires from the equipment on the floor so we need to clear or tape wires to floor.
Filming Equipment - Could get in the way of filming or the subjects may not be aware we are filming and cause an accident. We would need to place the equipment sensibly and make subjects and ourselves aware of its position by using 'filming in progress' signs.
Lighting - Can get hot and cause burns so needs to be turned off when not in use. Needs to have a 5 minute cooling session before being packed up.
Vehicles - Could get in the way of the vehicles since they are on the road a lot so we need to make sure we are not in the way of any moving objects.
Public - Make sure they do not get in the way and harm themselves or us.
Weather - Could rain and harm the equipment so we need to make sure we bring protective covers.

We will create risk assessment forms as well just in case and get Mary Edwards to sign them off for us.

Release Forms

Having permission to speak to the right people is obviously important. We already have permission from the company so we will have them sign release forms for themselves (to whoever is willing to be filmed) and the company itself nearer to the time of filming. Some subjects may not wish to have their face shown so we will have to respect their wish and blur or silhouette their face in post production. Alternatively, we do not have to film the face and could just film their hands.

University Rules of Ethics

After checking through the ethics list for work involving individual subjects, there was not many things that we would need to consider. As already explained before, if the subject wishes to remain anonymous then we could achieve that. If any of these rules are broken, then we will gain the ethics approval even if that means cutting certain parts out.There does not seem to be any content or views in our documentary that would break these. However, the university code of conducts is a document that will need to be signed just to confirm that the documentary that we are creating will not be breaching the rules and ethics that the university sets for itself in terms of media and film. This is to cover us just in case anything goes wrong.

There are obvious things that we need to look out for when filming our documentary that may break these rules:

Breaking the law - We must make sure that if any of the subjects are breaking the law in any way then we must not film it and that would break the rules and be perceived that we participated in that happening.
Racism or sexism views - Any views on racism and sexism should be avoided as depending on what they say or what we ask then that could break rules. Not that any of these issues will arise in our documentary.

Representation

One of the most important things for us and the subject themselves is representation. We do not want to represent them in a bad way at all. Our primary subject mentioned to us that a previous company were interested in doing a documentary about them in a 'Gypsy Travel' way and they were not happy about that all. We pledge that us as documentary film makers will not film or edit in a way that will misrepresent them in an unfavourable light.

Language

There is a strong possibilty that potentially offensive language may be used in the making of the documentary. Any strong language, derogatory terms, sexist, racist, blasphemy or any other potentially harmful language will have to be reviewed and assessed before being used. Usually, any of these terms will be deleted and not used in the documentary considering that our film does not deal with any of these issues. Strong language though will probably make the cut as it may just be part of their vocabulary.

Under 18's

Our documentary film would not be aimed at under 18's but that does not mean that it might not be suitable for them to watch. There are a lot of things to consider to put in our film that could cause offense to children under 18 such as nudity, violence, language or drugs and alcohol and so on. But as stressed before, none of these things will be in our documentary film with the exception of language. There may be a few swear words but we will be careful not to include too many offensive language.

Accuracy

This is probably one of the most important things to consider when making our documentary which is to provide accurate information and not mislead the audience. The BBC editorial guidelines state "3.2.2 - All BBC output, as appropriate to its subject and nature, must be wel sourced, based on sound evidence, throughly tested and presented in clear, precise language." "3.2.3 - The BBC must not knowingly and materically mislead its audiences. We should not distort known facts, present invented material as fact or otherwise undermine our audience's trust in out content" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-accuracy-principles/). When quoting or providing facts in our documentary, we need to make sure that they are legitimate and correct. Just like the BBC rules states, we do not want to mislead our audience with incorrect information. We also do not want to offend our subjects by using incorrect information as they may complain. Therefore, to avoid this from happening, we shall review any information that we are going to use and make sure that we can back it up.

BBC and OFCOM Guidelines

Section 1 -

1.2.7 - "Our output will be based on fairness, openness, honesty and straight dealing. Contributors and audiences will be treated with respect." (http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-editorial-values-editorial-values/). This means that we will keep the documentary to be as fair as possible for when we are dealing with our subjects. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-editorial-values-editorial-values/)
1.2.8 - "We will respect privacy and will not infringe it without good reason, wherever in the world we are operating. Private behaviour, information, correspondence and conversation will not be brought into the public domain unless there is a public interest that outweighs the expectation of privacy." We will appreciate and respect our subjects privacy even though our documentary will be observational. If the subject is uncomfortable in any way then we will stop filming. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-editorial-values-editorial-values/)

Section 2 -

2.6.2 - "When considering the issues raised by the Editorial Guidelines it is often necessary to distinguish between the law on the one hand, and broadcast regulation and the BBC's ethics on the other. There may be occasions when content is sufficiently legally safe to broadcast, but still raises regulatory or reputational risks for the BBC, such as when children are involved or privacy matters arise. In these circumstances the BBC seeks to behave ethically. While lawyers can therefore offer legal advice, the final decision remains an editorial one." We must make sure that we do not film anything that is illegal. If this situation does arise, then we would need to seek proper legal advice. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-using-advice/)

Section 3 -

3.2.2 - "All BBC output, as appropriate to its subject and nature, must be well sourced, based on sound evidence, thoroughly tested and presented in clear, precise language. We should be honest and open about what we don't know and avoid unfounded speculation. Claims, allegations, material facts and other content that cannot be corroborated should normally be attributed." (http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-accuracy-principles/)
3.2.3 - "The BBC must not knowingly and materially mislead its audiences. We should not distort known facts, present invented material as fact or otherwise undermine our audiences' trust in our content.". We will make sure that all of the information we gather and use is real and factual so we do not mislead our audience in any way. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-accuracy-principles/)
3.4.2 - "In all our content we must check and verify information, facts and documents, where required to achieve due accuracy. If we have been unable to verify material sufficiently, we should say so and attribute the information." We should make sure that any sourced footage is properly labelled as so and list where we found that footage. If we do use some footage or information that is copyrighted then we will need to gain permission to use it then credit it. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-accuracy-gathering-material/)
3.4.20 - "Archive material should not be used in a way that materially misleads the audience about a situation, events or what is being depicted. Labelling may be required." Credit all the archived footage we use and do not use it in a way to mislead the audience. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-accuracy-avoiding-misleading-audiences/)

Section 5 -

5.2.1 - "The BBC must apply generally accepted standards so as to provide adequate protection for members of the public from the inclusion of offensive and harmful material." This is a given and our documentary will not include any footage that could be perceived as potentially harmful or offensive material to the public. Language is the only thing that could be seen as offensive but as pointed out earlier, we shall assess any footage with swearing in it before we put on the final film. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-harm-principles/)
5.2.6 - "The use of strong language must be editorially justified and appropriately signposted to ensure it meets audience expectations, wherever it appears." Again, if there is a lot of swearing in this documentary then we must respect the 9pm watershed and possibly air the documentary around that time. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-harm-principles/)
5.4.26 - "In general, where strong language is integral to content and relevant questions of transmission slot and channel have been resolved, it should not be disguised. When a section of content is editorially justified but the slot, channel or context are not appropriate for strong language, it may be necessary to edit or bleep language, even post-watershed. Language that is bleeped for pre-watershed content must be thoroughly obscured, taking care to ensure also that the bleeped words are not then made obvious by visible mouth movements." This is also a technique we could use if our documentary has swearing in it and if we choose to air the documentary pre-watershed. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-harm-language/)

Section 6 -

6.4.10 - "Sometimes information the public should know is only available through sources or contributors on an 'off-the-record' or anonymous basis.When we grant a contributor or source anonymity as a condition of their participation, we must clearly agree the extent of anonymity we will provide. It may be sufficient to ensure that the contributor or source is not readily recognisable to the general public, or they may wish to be rendered unidentifiable even to close friends and family. We should keep accurate notes of conversations with sources and contributors about anonymity. A recording is preferable where possible." If the subject wishes to remain anonymous then we will keep record of how far they would wish to be kept hidden such as blurring out or not shot at all and so on. This we can then apply to production and post production. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-fairness-anonymity/)
6.4.25 - "When our output makes allegations of wrongdoing, iniquity or incompetence or lays out a strong and damaging critique of an individual or institution the presumption is that those criticised should be given a "right of reply", that is, given a fair opportunity to respond to the allegations. We must ensure we have a record of any request for a response including dates, times, the name of the person approached and the key elements of the exchange. We should normally describe the allegations in sufficient detail to enable an informed response, and set a fair and appropriate deadline by which to respond." We should make this of great importance as we do not wish to offend the subject or any one else that watches this documentary which will then allow them to have a "right to reply". They could then respond to any allegations made whether legally or formally. Therefore, we will make sure that any view that is given is not directed at someone else or company in derogatory form. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-fairness-right-of-reply//)

Section 7 -

7.2.5 - "When gathering personal information from contributors, audiences and other members of the public, we must be clear about how we intend to use it. It must be handled in accordance with the guidelines issued by Information Policy and Compliance." Any footage or information we use, we must be able to explain what we are doing and using it for and why. We must respect peoples privacy so if they do not want certain footage or audio to be used, then we will not. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-privacy-principles/)

Section 17 -

17.2.4 - "We must respect the privacy of everyone who interacts with us and only collect personal information with their consent." Again, make sure that we respect their privacy and not use or film anything they do not want filming. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-interacting-principles/)

It is also of importance that I checked through the Channel 4 guidelines when it came to making TV/film and they are very similar to BBC. Filming breaking the law or breaking the law to make the film, not faking or setting up, fairness to Rights to Reply, Libel and consents and permissions. These are all things that we will adhere to in our documentary as stated before. This information was gathered from http://www.4docs.org.uk/wiki/index.php/Legals#Consents_and_Permissions.

Copyright

We need to make sure that we do not breach any copyright laws in place. There a lot of things that we may need including archived footage but a lot of this will be copyrighted. If we needed it then we would have to contact the person who is it copyrighted to so we gain permission to use it. If they accept, then we would have to credit them in the piece and source where we got the archived footage from. If we do come across any legal issues, then we could receive legal advice from Lawdit solicitors for example which are a solicitor company situated in Southampton.

As well as being careful about using other peoples/companies work with copyright, after copyrighting our work, we need to be aware if anyone uses our copyright work. If this occurs, then we would have to download, printed and handed in at the correct adress. Here is the PDF of the form http://hmctscourtfinder.justice.gov.uk/HMCTS/GetForm.do?court_forms_id=338. Then they will deal with it and inform us of the situation.

There have been recent changes to the copyright law that we need to be aware of not just for this documentary but for future reference. This new copyright law states that it is now legal to use "foreign works without the knowledge and permission of the copyright owners" (http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/2226121/proposed-uk-copyright-changes-spark-worldwide-protests). While this has caused some angry protests, this now means that we can archive footage from foreign works even though it is copyrighted. I personally do not agree with this but it definitely does help our situation if we ever need to archive foreign works for our own projects.

Competitions

Quickthinking Productions plan to enter our documentary and further work onto different competitions around the globe to make sure that we spread the word as quickly as possible and of course, win. Even if we do not win, then entering is a benefit anyway as if we keep on entering into different competitions then we will get recognised. Such competitions that we plan to enter into are:

We also plan to pitch our idea to the industry as well to gain even more popularity and attention. To businesses such as Channel 4, BBC, ITV UK Film Council and so on. Although these may be big companies, we are firm believers that if you aim high, you will get there. So we will pitch our idea to them just to get them interested and maybe even stream into the UDOC film festival and see our documentary. We could even receive a loral which would be the utmost honour as we would of broken into the industry.

By Dale Stewart.