Accuracy and balance are a very important part of the documentary film making process. Documentaries must be kept accurate and supply there audiences with accurate and précises information if they wish to present it as factual. If they do not do this then my may experience legal issues during the film making process. One way that film makers are able to get around this is by portraying information, that may be still up for debate, as opinion so that they are still able to influence an audience in which ever way they decide.
A documentary also however should try to stay balanced by presenting both sides of the argument. This is particularly important in regards to investigative documentaries which are exploring sensitive subject areas. For example Louis Theroux's latest documentary on Jimmy Savile attempted to offer a small amount of balance by interviewing people that didn't believe that he had done what people had accused him of. Another contributor said that she only ever saw the good in him and so could not judge him on what she had not seen. Although the documentary its self is no longer on a subject that is up for debate it still went to some effort to create a sense of balance.
Accuracy and balance can sometimes interfere with each other as creating an accurate documentary may mean that it is naturally supporting one side over the other removing total balance from the final product. This is what I believe has happened with Louis Theroux's 2nd documentary on Jimmy Savile.
Impartiality
Impartiality in documentary film making means that the production team should not support either side of the argument/subject matter. This is also very important in investigatory film making as any opinion that the production team hold could end up reflecting within the final product effecting the balance and potentially creating a bias piece of film that benefits one side more than the other. Doing this could offend people related to the subject matter and cause a whole sea of issues on the legal side of things.
Objectivity & Subjectivity
Objectivity in documentary film making is making a judgement based on what is presented to you in ways of footage or evidence during the production process. To create an objective documentary the message of your final product should not include any of your own emotions or personal opinions as by doing this you may present what you believe as a fact which could cause a huge amount of legal issues because of how powerful a piece of media can be at influencing its audience.
Subjectivity in film making is making a judgement based on you're own personal opinions and emotions and not on any outside influences. In film making this can change the entire tone of a piece due to the emotions that are being presented to the audience.
Opinion
Documentaries can very easily make their audiences form strong opinions of the topic they are covering. The opinion that is shown through a documentary is altered by everyone of the other key issues discussed. The media is a very powerful tool in which to influence peoples ways of thinking, this is why documentaries one touchy subject areas must stay as unbiased, accurate and object as possible. An example of when a documentary has strongly influenced its audiences opinion would be with the film Black fish which was about how killer whales were stolen from the wild and taken to Sea World. Due to this documentary Sea Worlds profits dropped dramatically and they were forced to close down there killer whale breeding programme and stop all killer whale shows to the public.
A bias in factual film making is showing a topic or person/group of people in a certain way purposefully due to the production teams inclinations or prejudices. An example of when this has happened is with Louis Theroux's: My scientology movie. In the documentary scientologists are conveyed as crazy violent brainwashed individuals who worship a mentally unstable leader. The film did not dwell on whether the scientology church had done anything good with the power that it has. This was most probably to do with the fact that Louis mostly worked with Ex members of the church who share all of the awful experiences that they have had in the past. These stories make for a much more interesting documentary but do however create a strong bias of opinion which in turn will affected how the audience view the group.
Representation
Representation in factual film making can be influenced/changed by a number of different things. For example subjectivity can vastly change how a topic is depicted in a documentary due to the emotions that could possibly change things such as the tone and balance of the piece. Another area to consider for representation is how easy it is to manipulate what a contributor is saying to make it sound like they are saying something completely different. Although this is highly unethical it is most likely used quite often to change the representation or tone of the documentary.
Privacy
Privacy is a very large issue within factual film making as any contributor who is giving information must have there privacy protected at all times. There is certain questions that an interviewer or production team should not ask so that they are completely respectful towards each subject. For example in the documentary lift there was a scene were a participant talks about how his bi-polar and how mother and father both died in a short period of time when he was very young. He revealed in an interview that he first learnt about this information whilst talking to the man off camera and asked him is it would be okay to film him talking about it in the lift. This obviously made that moment slightly fabricated due to the fact that it was presented as if it was the first time he had ever heard this information. However this was completely necessary in order to maintain a respectful level of privacy and ensure that he was completely okay with saying those things on camera.
My Documentary
With my documentary I am going to try and create the most accurate and object piece possible. I will speak to a range of people with different opinions in order to keep a sense of balance in the final product which will also help me to remain as unbiased as I can. I understand that I must be cautious about how the people or groups are represented in my documentary as if I portray anyone in a bad light this will cause ethical and even legal issues with my film. I will not manipulate any of the footage to make them look a certain way.
In regards to privacy I will first have a discussion with all contributors and discuss with them everything that I plan on filming and make sure that they are okay with it.
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