Documentary Manifesto

1. Documentary Filmmakers may impart their own perspective upon a document without changing the meaning of that document.

I have defined document to also include an event. In the case of the Rodney King beating, this particular event may be interpreted as the police beating an African
American or as the police defending themselves from being beaten. Regardless, the
footage is of an altercation between King and the police. “documentary has always
implicitly acknowledged that the ‘document’ at its heart is open to reassessment,
reappropriation and even manipulation without these processes necessarily obscuring or
rendering irretrievable the document’s original meaning, context or content.”

2. Documentary technique best serves the story by being invisible.
The viewers’ greatest awareness should be of the story being told, not the technique. If
the viewer is aware of the lighting or camera movement or editing then they are not
totally absorbed by the film. This is true for both flawed or perfected technique,
regardless of whether or not the viewer can articulate what it is they are seeing.
“Your mood and message and point have to come through as well as possible. Your
technique should be made to serve that, kept in place, as a servant to that purpose.
That requires skill, knowledge and technical ability, and you have to have done the work
In order to make it not show.”

3. Much research and deliberation must go into choosing the Interviewee and
the interviewer in a Documentary situation.
The desired content of an interview can be greatly influenced by choosing the right
participants. Interviewing is an art. The best interviewers know how to listen and of
course have done the research on the matter being discussed. A difference of opinion
between the interviewer and the interviewee should not be allowed to impact upon the
interview. “Who is speaking to whom turns out to be as important for meaning and truth
as what is said; in fact what is said turns out to change according to who is speaking
and who is listening.”
4. The Documentary Filmmaker must remain invisible while capturing the subject
matter of the Documentary.
One must take into account, and avoid having, the person(s) being filmed react to the
the process of being filmed. Excessive noise at the location or even standing in the
interviewee’s eye-line can be quite distracting. “My second point concerns the
reflexivity of contemporary art. I have stressed that reflexivity is needed to protect
against an over-identification with the other (through commitment, self-othering, and so
on) that may compromise this otherness.”

5. The culmination of Documentary practice is reached when capturing a real
event actually happening.
Capturing a real event adds a tremendous amount of credibility to a film. Combining
proper framing, good sound and seamless editing certainly empowers the footage. The
moments of birth and death are the ultimate real events. “To catch a death actually
happening and embalm it for all time is something only cameras can do, and pictures
taken by photographers out in the field of the moment of (or just before) death are
among the most celebrated and often reproduced of war photographs.”

6. At no time shall a Documentary Filmmaker create an event, which has the
potential of being physically and or psychologically harmful to the
participants, for the purpose of documenting that event.
Recording participants, as they react to an event, staged by the producer(s) of that
event, whose main purpose was to record the reaction, is not honest Documentary
practice. This really gives a false sense of Documentary realism. No matter how
articulately the proponents of this practice argue in favour of its validity, I don’t believe it
to be a mode of ethical Documentary filmmaking.

7. Documentary is the manifestation, as a permanent record, of those things that we
deem important enough to be centermost in our thoughts.
We must sincerely believe in the importance of and the importance of sharing the
subject matter of our Documentaries. If you don’t sincerely believe in the premise of the
film, eventually that lack of belief will be reflected in the final product. It is that belief that
enables us to work long hours and go the extra mile that is sometimes required.
“We photograph things in order to get them out of our minds.”

8. The interviewees in a Documentary shall agree to participate of their own volition. The opinions they express shall not be motivated by any compensation, financial or otherwise, that has been implied or actually offered.
It is important that the audience accept the information presented in a Documentary as having been freely presented. The Filmmaker, and the film, most certainly would lose credibility if the audience were to learn that some of the material presented was “bought”. Regardless of whether the audience finds out or not, the Documentary Filmmaker has the responsibility of upholding the integrity of the material presented.

9. The Documentary Filmmaker must engage the audience, and hold their attention, by having a story within the material presented.
The narrative within a Documentary need not be presented in a linear fashion and may be within the context of any genre: experimental, comedy etc. The incorporation of the story line of the music competition in, “War Dance” by Sean Fine and Andrea Mix, enhances the film greatly by adding another a level of audience engagement.

10. The concerns over financial remuneration and who may or may not be offended by a work should not prevent Documentary Filmmakers from trying to have as many people as possible view their films.
Documentaries should be readily available to as many audiences as possible. This includes theatrical, festival, internet, iPod and DVD release. Devoted Documentarians have been known to show their films without receiving any kind of financial return.
Fairly and accurately portraying a situation should always take precedence over who may or may not be offended by the film.