Please note! Course description is confirmed for two academic years, which means that in general, e.g. Learning outcomes, assessment methods and key content stays unchanged. However, via course syllabus, it is possible to specify or change the course execution in each realization of the course, such as how the contact sessions are organized, assessment methods weighted or materials used.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Students gain in-depth knowledge and understanding of the ethical issues of the documentary mode, such as professional ethics, dealing with protagonists, licensing practices, and broader ethical philosophical issues.
Credits: 2
Schedule: 17.05.2021 - 21.05.2021
Teacher in charge (valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022): Arturo Delgado Pereira
Teacher in charge (applies in this implementation): Arturo Delgado Pereira
Contact information for the course (valid 11.05.2021-21.12.2112):
Course: Documentary Film and Ethics (ELO-E1504) 2cr
Major in Documentary Film
2020/2021
Department of Film, Television and Scenography
ELO, Aalto University
Dates: 17.05.-21.05.21
Time: 10am-4pm
Online course: https://aalto.zoom.us/j/63370707307
Responsible teacher: Arturo Delgado Pereira
Teaching Language: English
E-mail: arturo.delgado@aalto.fi
CEFR level (applies in this implementation):
Language of instruction and studies (valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022):
Teaching language: English
Languages of study attainment: English
CONTENT, ASSESSMENT AND WORKLOAD
Content
Valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022:
The course covers professional ethics, ethics of representation, interactions with protagonists, licensing practices, and broader ethical philosophical issues
Applies in this implementation:
Description.
This course will look at the ethics of representation in documentary film and other “reality” based practices which imply working with real people (social actors in Nichols’ words). The course will also cover basics aspects of sustainable filmmaking. The methodology of the course will include lectures, readings, visitors, film screenings as well as discussions.
Learning Outcomes.
Students will identify the main aspects that pertain to documentary film ethics.
Students will be able to analyze films attending to the ethical challenges they present for filmmakers and audiences.
Visitors
Joel Backström
Joel Backström is a moral philosopher from Helsinki. He teaches philosophy at the University of Helsinki and at Uniarts. His research focuses on ethics, Wittgenstein and the philosophy of psychoanalysis. He views moral life in terms of a tension between, on the one hand, the normative orders of collective life, and, on the other, the openness between individual human beings, which we both long for and fear. Currently, he leads a transdisciplinary research project developing an "engaged dialogue" approach to studying people in the social sciences.
Maria Haipus
Maria Haipus is an editor who has worked in reality tv since 2007. She studied in Lahti Polytechnic in Institute of Design to become cinematographer but started as an editor within a year after graduation and stayed in that position ever since. Her first reality tv job was as an editor in Big Brother Finland. Since then she has done a vast number of reality tv shows like Kuorosota (Batlle of the choirs), Eläinsairaala (Animal hospital), Pelastushelikopteri (Rescue helicopter), MasterChef Finland and Junior MasterChef, Finnish model reality Mallikoulu, Leijonan luola (Shark Tank), Sohvaperunat (Gogglebox Finland) etc. Currently she is editing a documentary about conductor and composer Kari Tikka.
Assessment Methods and Criteria
Valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022:
Lectures, film screenings and discussions. Completing the course require students’ active participation and the completion of a written assignment or oral presentation.
Applies in this implementation:
Pre-assignment.
Students read the following texts found on the MyCourses home page for the course.
Bill Nichols: “Why are Ethical Issues Central to Documentary Filmmaking?”
Patricia Aufderheide, Peter Jaszi and Mridu Chandra. “Honest Truths: Documentary Filmmakers on Ethical Challenges in Their Work”
Watch Titicut Follies (Frederick Wiseman, 1967)
Titicut Follies (Finnish subtitles)
PW: Observational
Titicut Follies (English subtitles)
PW: Ethics
Assignment.
Students will write a short essay (around 3 pages) in which they will analyze a film presented in the course attending to the ethical issues it presents.
Workload
Valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022:
Lectures: 16-27h
Independent study: 27-38hApplies in this implementation:
General Schedule.
Monday 17.05.
10am-3pm: Arturo Delgado Pereira.
Introduction to Ethics in Documentary Film.
The importance of ethical issues in documentary film; Documentary filmmakers on ethical challenges; Consent: a key concept; The case of poverty porn.
Tuesday 18.05.
10am-1pm. Joel Jakob Backström
Thinking about moral questions: a philosopher's introduction.
2pm-4pm
Film screening.
Wednesday 19.05.
10am-1pm. Joel Jakob Backström
Ethical issues in documenting lives
2pm-4pm
Film screening.
Homework: Follow the link and read report on Reality TV: https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11894400
Thursday 20.05
10-11:30am. Maria Haipus
Ethics in entertainment industry.
12:30-3pm
Independent Study time. Working on your essay.
Friday 21.05
10-12:00 Kaisa Astikainen.
Sustainable filmmaking.
1-3pm
Discussion about students’ essays and wrap up of course.
DETAILS
Study Material
Valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022:
Study material changes according to course content.
Applies in this implementation:
Suggested Readings:
Bill Nichols: “Why are Ethical Issues Central to Documentary Filmmaking?”
Bill Nichols: “Axiographics: Ethical Space in Documentary Film”
Patricia Aufderheide, Peter Jaszi and Mridu Chandra. “Honest Truths: Documentary Filmmakers on Ethical Challenges in Their Work”
Pratap Rughani. “The Dance of Documentary Ethics”
Film Quarterly monograph in The Act of Killing.
Timothy Asch: “The Ethics of Ethnographic Film-making”
Ardis Cameron. “When Strangers Bring Cameras: The Poetics and Politics of Othered Places”.
David MacDougall: “Whose Story Is It?”
Diane Price, Ruth Ellen Blakeney, Donavan Cain, Erica S. Collins, Amanda Deal,Kelly H. Elliott, Kristina Marie Heiks. “Camera is a Gun: A Discussion of "Stranger with a Camera"”
Jay Ruby: “The Ethics of Image-Making; or They’re Going to Put Me in the Movies. They are going to Make a Big Star Out of Me”
Jay Ruby: Speaking For, Speaking About, Speaking With, Or Speaking Alongside: An Anthropological and Documentary Dilemma”.
Jeffrey Ruoff. “An Ethnographic Surrealist Film: Luis Buñuel´s Land Without Bread.
Suggested films:Titicut Follies (Frederick Wiseman, 1967)The House is Black (Forugh Farrojzad, 1962)Land Without Bread (Luis Buñuel, 1932)Les Maîtres fous (Jean Rouch, 1953-4)Agarrando Pueblo (Luis Ospina and Carlos Mayolo, 1977)Stranger with a Camera (Elizabeth Barret, 2000)The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer, 2012)
- Teacher: Delgado Pereira Arturo