Interviewing, Ethics and Research - The Heart Of Documentary
Bring your characters to life!
Description
The lessons in this mini-masterclass all relate to how you as a filmmaker interact with who and what you come into contact with while making your film. In this mini-masterclass we look at three sets of lessons.
The first lesson looks at the ethics involved in filmmaking, looking specifically at a filmmaker’s relationship with viewers, film participants and then also of course their own production ethics. Making factual films demand that what is presented to the viewer is accurate and reflects reality. Furthermore factual filmmakers are charged with reflecting their participants truthfully and must not transgress any trust they place in the filmmaker. This demands that filmmakers develop a production ethic that meets both viewer and participant expectations. What are do you do and what do you avoid in other words what is acceptable in documentary filmmaking and what is not.
The second lesson covers the importance of sound research practices in factual filmmaking - the core of any documentary film - and how to avoid the trap of fake information in your films. With the escalating numbers of people posting information on the internet, fact checking, is more crucial now than ever. How do you reflect reality in a film that is about factual events. How do you make sure that what you are portraying is in fact the truth. This lesson takes a look at how facts should be checked to be able to distinguished between what is an opinion and what is a fact.
The third and final lesson is about interviewing skills and how to secure a good outcome through building a sound relationship between interviewer and interviewee. The focus is on how to do in-depth documentary interviews successfully. How do you approach the interviewee and more importantly how does an interviewer get an interviewee to open up in an interview, something that is essential if you are going to get to the heart of the story. Successful interviewing depends on the rapport that an interviewer established with the interviewee. And this is no easy task. This course gives you a set of guidelines that, if followed correctly, will deliver a deeper and more meaningful interview.
In addition to all the above lessons there are also handouts and exercises attached to each lesson.
I trust you will enjoy and benefit from these lessons.
What You Will Learn!
- Film Ethics, Research and Interviewing
- Support skills for documentary filmmaking
Who Should Attend!
- Beginners
- Students who have a basic competence in filming and editing and now need broader skills.