The ethics of charity documentaries, and how much control you take as the filmmaker?

[leeburnett]

I'm in the very early stages of contact with a charity I am interested in making a short documentary of. They have shown their interest so I think it is going ahead, but I'm not sure about a few things, having not made any charity films before.

I won't be getting paid a penny. I want to create something interesting, and I don't have any ideas yet, but before I begin talking ideas through with them I want to know how much control to take in the direction of the film.

Basically, I don't want to just make whatever they want me to make as I don't want it to be purely marketing. That being said, I want the outcome to be that they benefit from this, I don't want to offend them in any way. I just want to take creative control as from my experience it's easier to see the beauty in certain situations as an outsider with a camera.

What sort of things do you do, if any, to establish that you are making the film and want to direct it?

I know this is vague, but I have barely spoken to them yet.

 

[Andrius Simutis]

You just have to feel them out and get a sense of how they operate.
I'd start by asking them what their goals are with the film. They might be trying to get you to make a marketing sales pitch video for them without paying you, or they might be giving you a ton of resources and connections to make the film you've always wanted to make. If at all possible, find some of the people that have worked with the charity in the past and ask them about their experience.

 

[Patryk_Rebisz]

As someone who hasn't done any charity videos - don't worry about control as you most likely don't understand what gets people going in the first place. They might be equally clueless when it comes to video but they do know a thing or two about touching people's hearts. So rather than be the "beauty seeker," listen to their input. Because you took it as a probono project it implies your understanding of filmmaking is a bit rudimentary (a pro would understand that the charity has a goal and budget for this video; moreover he/she would understand that charity videos are not about "beauty") so again try not to impose your limited understanding of the medium onto them (a badly lit shot of smiling crowd of kids might be more powerful than your perfectly balances, slider shot of one kid). Take it as an opportunity to grow your understanding of the medium beyond the technicals ("the beauty"), learn what makes this "story" relevant to the people. Ultimately they are your client so it's as simple as " they get what they want." The fact that no money changes hands is almost irrelevant at this point.

 

[David W. Richardson]

I have done charity videos pro-bono, because I supported the charity and wanted them to put the money to other uses. Some of my talent donated their paychecks to the charity as well. So it's not necessarily true that doing such work pro-bono is any reflection on your level of understanding about filmmaking.

 

[Paul F]

Indeed, the objective is vague. You want to make a documentary presumably because you like the charity and you want to help them. But you don't want it to be purely marketing. Why not? Why do you want creative control? How will the documentary be used? It's difficult to respond without knowing your motivations for this project.

 

[Patryk_Rebisz]

I have done charity videos pro-bono, because I supported the charity and wanted them to put the money to other uses. Some of my talent donated their paychecks to the charity as well. So it's not necessarily true that doing such work pro-bono is any reflection on your level of understanding about filmmaking.

Doing the work pro-bon by itself indeed is not the marker of one's skills (or lack of it), however that with vagueness (talked about by Paul) and overall lack of specific goals ALONG with the pro-bono aspect IS this specific marker.

 

[David W. Jones]

I hate to come off sounding jaded, but most charities have very well paid marketing departments which love for talented individuals to donate their efforts. In fact, 501C3 non profits have some of the highest paid staff period. I don't know what it's like in your region, but where I live for example, you are only allowed to deduct materials used in a project. So say you spent $52K in time shooting and editing, and then delivered the project on a DVD, you are only allowed to deduct the $1.99 cost of the DVD as your donation to the charity. Not a hater, just stating the facts, as I have been married to a non-profit fund raiser for 23 years.

 

[adkimery]

IWhat sort of things do you do, if any, to establish that you are making the film and want to direct it?

You put it in the contract that you own all the footage and audio recordings, you own the finished product and you have final say with regards to editing. Obviously you are interested in helping to promote this organization so they shouldn't be worried about you doing a hatchet job on them, so just be up front that while you are open to their input all final decisions are yours.

 

[leeburnett]

Firstly, this charity is tiny. They literally make no money, barely enough to do what they do. They have only become a registered charity in the last month. There are no paid members of staff at all, it's all done around their day jobs.

Secondly, I'm doing it pro-bono because I genuinely think that what they do is great, and pro-bono documentary work for me is an opportunity to experiment, to find a story that is maybe not what the client or viewer is expecting. I am gearing my career towards documentary, so freedom to experiment and find my own voice is important to me.

The vagueness was explained in that I had barely spoken to them when I posted this. I had no ideas on where it was going. I wanted some advice on how to approach projects like this from the very offset. What I say now and the attitude I put across from the beginning is important in how the client knows what I'm going to do and lets me do it. I can't do that with paid work in the same way. Sorry I didn't explain this properly from the offset, it was vague.

Now that I've spoken to them, they're incredibly flexible and have actually put forward some great ideas. It's not that I posted this wanting to take control no matter what, but I've done enough jobs in the past, paid and unpaid, to know that a lot of people think they know what's best when in fact they don't, and once a project like that progresses it's really hard to change the direction.

To say that my knowledge of film-making is rudimentary because I've taken pro-bono work is a huge assumption, and also that I don't know what gets people going. That's so closely tied into the video production and direction surely? The concept, the story, the lighting, the timing, the editing. I like to think I do know what gets people going, that's part of the job. But, I do see what you mean in that they have feedback from people, and they're actually doing the work so they see the areas that are meaningful. I guess I was coming at it more from the angle that I want to know how other filmmakers approach how they present themselves to a client on a job where you want to take creative control and how to let a client trust you to do that?

 

[combatentropy]

I completely understood your situation in the first post. It wasn't vague. It doesn't mean you're a beginner. Most non-profits don't have big marketing departments that love to exploit filmmakers. What in the world!?

I've made a couple of videos for a non-profit, but they were more like promos. I just asked people questions and let them answer in their own words, but I only asked people who were clients or employees of the non-profit. I didn't seek out naysayers. So in that regard, it was a promo, not an unbiased documentary. But it was more neutral than a promo for another organization that I helped out on, where the interviewer fed lines to the interviewees, did several takes of the same answer, and so on. Yuck!

I suppose asking to do a documentary of a non-profit is just like asking to do a documentary of anybody. If you say you're going to try to be neutral, it's threatening. Even if you're not going to be unbiased, if you're actually making a promo, it's threatening. How do you feel when someone points a camera at you? Even if my mother said that she was going to make a promo about me, I would feel nervous.

I don't really have an answer, other than it takes some tact and it's a bit of a give-and-take, as with any documentary subject --- unless you're shooting everything with a 500mm lens and hidden microphones.

 

[leeburnett]

Yea I see what you mean. I don't mind it being biased, as long as it's not pretending to be otherwise. This isn't going to be investigative journalism putting forward an argument, I appreciate it will inevitably market the charity and that's part of the purpose, but I don't necessarily need to show the charity work for it to spread the word.

I guess the thing I'm saying is that what 'clients' often think of as 'marketing' can sometimes miss the mark and push people away, can make people not want to hear what they have got to say. If this is pro-bono then I can experiment a bit. The sole purpose will always be to make people want to watch the video, to feel some emotion and learn something about the subject, but not feel like it's being shoved down their throat. That's a delicate balance that can be destroyed easily if not done well IMHO, and it's something I've seen a lot in charity videos.

I don't know quite what I'm asking anymore. :2vrolijk_08:

 

[Paul F]

....I just asked people questions...

Combat has a key tool here. As you know, each client has it's own culture/personality. Only you know what it is and if you don't know it well enough, you ask more questions. Rather than pushing a point of being the one with the creative control, you can ask a series of questions that lead them to believe that creative control should be yours. Given the present state of the charity, I doubt this would be an issue unless one of the members has delusions of grandeur and needs to control everything.