In this blog post, I will be analyzing the article Dramatic Conflict in Documentary How to Build it Safely? published in 2023 and written by Andrei Tache-Codreanu (Tache-Codreanu, 2023, pp. 473–478). The text talks about how in order for a documentary film to be compelling and catching, as all films and stories, it needs to have a conflict consisting of a protagonist and opposing antagonistic forces, working against the protagonist (Tache-Codreanu, 2023, p. 473).
In documentaries however, seeking this type of conflict might create ethical dilemmas as the subjects being filmed and observed are real-life people with real problems, for whom the experience of being put onto a screen might be (re-)traumatizing.
Tache-Codreanu describes how, many times, talking to a camera can lead participants to reveal far more than they had intended initially intended, making them very vulnerable. Documentary filmmakers need not lose sight of that when chasing their perfect story (Tache-Codreanu, 2023, pp. 474–475).
In chapter 2 of his article Tache-Codreanu describes the parallels documentaries bear to psychoanalysis in the way that patients or, in the case of a documentary, participants wish to have an opportunity to have their story heard by someone empathetic and respectful, who will ideally help them understand it better by having someone reflect the story back to them in a broken down and simplified way. The main difference between the two would be that documentary filmmakers do not have the participant’s healing process as their highest aim, it might just be a lucky side effect of their main goal: creating a captivating and interesting piece of media. This discrepancy between participants feeling like they will achieve some healing or closure by revealing some potentially traumatic information and the filmmaker possibly only aiming at getting an intriguing story, whatever it takes, might lead to an exploitation of the participant’s trauma when filmmakers push too hard. This is why Tache-Codreanu describes that, like in psychoanalysis, conversations in documentaries should be able to flow freely without being forced (Tache-Codreanu, 2023, p. 475).
Nonetheless, even when the interview situation itself is pleasant and freeing for the participants, Tache-Codreanu talks about how seeing themselves in the finished product can lead to anxiety if the participants do not recognize their doppelganger on the screen. This separation between their perceived self and what the editing process and style of the documentation have made of them can cause a great deal of pain and trauma for the film’s subjects. This is why Tache-Codreanu making participant’s also feel included in the rest of the creative process, giving them a certain amount of control over the version of themselves they are going to show the world. This collaborative approach can look like explaining the different steps of the filmmaking process, including the film team and equipment, making the participants feel as a part of the team, but can also go so far as to ask creative input from them for how they want the documentary to look and feel like. This inclusion would help people feel not as test subjects to be studied under a microscope, but as active participants and proud part of the production, thus aiding in making them feel more comfortable with the results, even if deeply traumatic topics are treated. One method by Rosenthal, which Tache-Codreanu described is having a sort of warm-up phase before the actual interview starts where he just talks to the participant, maybe having a cup of tea and introducing the crew as well as the equipment and process, before the actual interview begins (Tache-Codreanu, 2023, pp. 476–477).
Tache-Codreanu concludes that in order to create meaningful and ethical documentaries that still tell captivating stories about real people, it is never a good idea to force answers out of the participants or edit the footage in a way that makes it seem more enticing, but less real. He says that truly moving stories come from a collaboration between filmmaker and film subjects where there are mutual trust and openness. Creating a safe space is the best method for getting honest and raw stories and letting participants have a say in the finished product assures a harmonious and ethical collaboration. Documentary filmmakers are wholly dependent on the stories they are told, so it is of utmost importance to treat those who tell these stories with care and respect (Tache-Codreanu, 2023, pp. 477–478).
Source:
Tache-Codreanu, A. (2023). Dramatic Conflict in Documentary How to Build it Safely?
