Having the opportunity to film at an osteopath clinic was where I was the most aware of ethical concerns whilst making my documentary as well as coming across new considerations I can add to my current charter. One of which was placing emphasis and reminding myself to get informed consent from participants in my film is what I would add to my ethics charter for future projects. This is very similar to what was mentioned in the tutorial slides under the heading “protecting the people we film”. I realised this was an important aspect when I went to go film at the osteopath clinic where patients were being treated in real time. I initially did not think of this until Fontz raised that point and asked the patients if they were okay with being in front of a camera before I started to film her at work. Possible consequences as a result of not getting informed consent is sharing private information about certain injuries or conditions that the patients did not want to share. A way I can get proof of this is by remembering to ensure participants of my documentary complete and fill out consent forms. A point on my ethics charter can also be changed instead from “Not to film people secretly and without their permission“ to “Not to film people secretly without their informed consent“.
Another ethical concern I came across of obtaining footage of patients was having to mute and remove the dialogue from them communicating with Fontz for privacy and personal reasons as that was also brought up whilst I was filming at the clinic. This consideration can be added to my ethics charter and listed as “ask participants if I can use their dialogue from footage taken”.
Like mentioned in the Week 4 tutorial powerpoint slides for this studio, ensuring the participant knows what they are being filmed for is something I did not have on my ethics charter before but in the future would want to add to avoid conflicts and confusion from the participants and their understanding of what they are a part of. This would also let participants of my documentary clearly know and trust that I will not edit footage and audio taken from them to be manipulated in a way that is out of context which is an ethical concern already on my charter.
Being mindful of space and my surroundings when shooting and to not to be in the way of others that I do not intend to include in my documentary during shooting is another consideration I would emphasise and add to my ethics charter where consequences would be being in the way and disturbing the general public. This can especially apply to solo media practitioner work where I have no team or anyone else to warn each other about not obstructing anyone’s way. Even though I did avoid doing this whilst shooting my documentary, I feel like it would be a good reminder in working in wide open spaces like QV where there are people walking by as well as close narrow spaces like the clinic.