Parental Content Release Forms
The BBC editorial guidelines say that someone who is over the age of 18 must give the Parental consent for a minor. This is someone who is under the age of 16. An exception can be made if making ‘vox pops’ (Interviewing members of the public) with children on non-sensitive or controversial subjects.
If the person is 16 or 17 it might still be best to seek parental consent depending on the circumstance, such as circumstances with the young person or the programme.
If the child’s parents have passed away or are divorced the legal guardian would sign the consent form.
To keep children from risk once the photos or videos are available it is best to keep their full name and address confidential if you have that information.
When at an activity with children the best way is to focus on the event not a particular child and avoid showing full faces.
If you do not have the parents or legal guardians permission to take the photos then you cannot.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidance-children-interacting-privacy/
Fair Use
Fair use is apart of the copyright law, which allows for someone to use up to a certain amount of copyrighted information. This is because if copyright was too restricted it would have an affect on free speech, news reports or on a person who did not mean to break any rules.
Fair use allows for quotations or excerpts where the work has already been published. Provided that it is justified and no more than needed, as well as sourced.
Right of Reply
The ‘Right of Reply’ is a way for people to defend themselves on a publication that they are mentioned in. If a person is said to be involved with some form of wrongdoing they are then able to reply to the allegations made about them. The BBC has said that “When our output makes allegations of wrongdoing, iniquity or incompetence or lays out a strong and damaging critique of an individual or institution the presumption is that those criticised should be given a "right of reply", that is, given a fair opportunity to respond to the allegations.” However the right to reply is different all around the world.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-fairness-right-of-reply/
Almost all digital images require some form of sharpening filter; this also applies to video as well. Straight sharpen filter can give adequate results, however the un-sharp mask filter allows you to sharpen video by removing the "un-sharp" pixels. It has the effect of cleaning the video and slightly boosting overall contrast. This is ideal seeing as nearly all video-editing programs, such as Premiere, After Effects and Final Cut have this filter or you can perches plug-ins for these programs. The only downside is the time it takes to render, as this filter is a mathematical calculation so for each frame the CPU has to process the filter and calculate the pixels to be sharpened. Although it helps having a powerful processer such as a Intel i5 or higher.
http://www.crowdigitalmedia.com/blog/to-sharpen-hd-dslr-footage-or-not.html
Video Footage Sharpening
Moiré
Moiré’s occurs when two patterns from fabric, hair, architecture etc. The camera sensor interprets the light through the bayer interpolation filter and as a result. It creates a new third “wave” pattern. There are effective ways to remove moiré’s, such as editing the image though postproduction with software and plug-ins. However, this may reduce the quality of the image. The most effective way of removing moiré is change the camera to the subject distance or focus because of over loading the sensor resolution. Another way to remove moiré is to always shoot in RAW, not JPEG due to the more pixels, the less moiré the sensor will pick up. On the other hand, this depends on what type of camera that you use.
http://www.ishootshows.com/2012/04/09/understanding-moire-patterns-in-digital-photography/
Ofcom
BBFC
ASA
NUJ
When interviewing members of the general public it is required to gain permission from that person for their material to be shown. This is done in the way of a release form. The release form should be collected on the day of shooting, prior if possible. Different rules for Children. (See Parental Content Release Forms) When signing the document the person should be under no false pretenses and know what the film will be used for. Permission is not needed when filming in public unless people’s faces are clearly visible.
Copyright
Release Forms
Ethics
The ethics within documentary are hard to define as a lot of the time it is up to the individual person and on how far they will go for a story. Having said this an ethical code followed by documentary practitioners is to “Do no harm” and to “do nothing that would violate humanity of your subject and nothing that would compromise the trust of your audience”. However even this is a very vague statement with grey areas. Ethics is all about how far a filmmaking will go to get the perfect footage. Some will not use actors to create some form of conflict whereas others would not hesitate. It all depends on the person making the film and at the moment I do not know how far I would go if I really wanted that perfect film.
Copryright law originated in the UK with the current act being the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The law gives the creators of work rights to control the ways in which their material can be used. The rights cover, broadcast and public performance, copy, adapting, issuing, renting and lending copies to the public.
Types of work protected:
-
Literary – Song lyrics, manuscripts, manuals, computer programs, commercial documents, leaflets, newsletters & articles, computer programs etc.
-
Dramatic – Plays, dance, etc.
-
Musicals – Recording
-
Artistic - Photography, painting, sculptures, architecture, technical drawings/diagrams, maps, logos.
-
Typographical arrangement of Published editions – magazines, periodicles, etc.
-
Sound Recording – may be recordings of other copyright works.
-
Film – video footage, films, broadcasts and cable programmes.
-
Crown Copyright – Works made by an officer of the crown, includes legislation, documents and reports produced by government bodies.
-
Parlimentary Copyright – Work made by or under control of the House of Commons or the House of Lords.
http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law
To qualify for copyright your work should be regarded as original and show that work and skill has gone into creating the product. When you copyright something you cannot copy the idea but only the content. For example you could do a film about a zombie apocalypse and copyright it, but someone is still entitled to create their own zombie apocalypse film as long as they do not copy yours or adapt it to do so.
Duration of Copyright
The 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act states the duration of copyright as:
-
For literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works – 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last remaining author of the work dies.
-
Sound Recordings and broadcasts – 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was created.
-
Films – 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last principal director, author or composer dies.
-
Typographical arrangement of published editions – 25 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was first published.
-
Broadcasts and cable programmes – 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the broadcast was made.
-
Crown Copyright – 125 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was made.
-
Parliamentary Copyright – 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was made.
http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law
How to copyright your work?
To copyright your work you have to fill out a copyright form (see image). Once you have filled it out correctly, print it out and send it to yourself via recorded postage. Sign for the envelope and do not open it..
