Release Forms
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.
Jordan Shepherd
BBFC
The BBFC are a regulatory organisation that classifies everything from films to games. Their aim is to help protect children in the UK from seeing potentially damaging and harmful content. They have a small office in London with a small group of employees/examiners from a wide variety of backgrounds. They pass certificates to the differing pieces of media giving them an age rating between U (universal) to 18, and everything in between. When rating a media they focus on these areas, discrimination, drugs, horror, dangerous and easily imitable behaviour, language, nudity, sex, and violence.
Jordan Shepherd
Copyright
Copyright gives the original creator of a piece of work the right to the subject’s use and distribution. This provides the creator the official credit for the work. Creators simply copyright their work, publish it and wait for people to ask and pay a fee to gain permission to use the material and this also provides the author with accreditation from the usage.
Jordan Shepherd
Fair Use
Fair Use grants the right to material to be used without permission from the author to be used under certain circumstances. These circumstances include education, research, news reporting and search engines. It is the exception of copyrighted law.
Jordan Shepherd
Ethics
Ethics are the principles and standards that people live by. In the media these ethics are often manipulated or even disregarded. News can be manipulated to a governments own ideas and values. People exposed unknowingly or involuntarily could be classed as being exposed to propaganda.
Privacy or the lack of it can become an ethical issue. This is due to everyone having free speech and the right to privacy. So just because something is true does not justify its publication. It is a very popular part of the media however because of its voyeuristic nature. People want to see what they don’t normally get to see and this can cause conflict when it comes to publication.
Jordan Shepherd