19th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival
3-12 March 2017
MASTERCLASS EDN
“RESEARCHING RIGHT & RIGHTS RESEARCHING”
with Canadian producer, editorial and visual researcher Elizabeth Klinck
3-12 March 2017
MASTERCLASS EDN
“RESEARCHING RIGHT & RIGHTS RESEARCHING”
with Canadian producer, editorial and visual researcher Elizabeth Klinck
All subjects that concern copyright, archive material and research took centre stage in a masterclass held on Tuesday, March 7th 2017 at the Pavlos Zannas theatre, as part of the Docs in Thessaloniki Pitching Forum 2017 of the 19th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. The masterclass was presented by Elizabeth Klinck, veteran researcher in the international audio-visual field and also a professional specialist on archive material and the ways it can be used by film directors. The masterclass was co-organized by the EDN (European Documentary Network) and the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.
Ove Rishoj Jensen, EDN’s Film & Media Consultant, presented Elizabeth Klinck, noting that locating archive material is of great importance for documentary filmmakers. Right after this, Ms Klinck elaborated on the basic themes of the masterclass: the research that needs to be carried out before the documentary shootings begin in order to ensure copyright, and also what happens with copyrights for the use of images, videos and music.
Research for copyrights
Elizabeth Klinck initially stressed that filmmakers have to take all sorts of copyrights into consideration and obtain permission for all the material that does not belong to them. People usually tend to take whatever is easily available, she said, however, obtaining permission is necessary if the film is to be distributed or broadcasted. For this reason it is essential, even before the filming starts, that all the documents needed for copyright permissions are collected for all persons participating, sources from third parties (such as films or theatre plays) and locations.
1) How does research begin?
A good start is “market research”; finding out who has addressed the same issue, not only because you need to know what already exists, but also because some really useful information about the source material can be drawn this way. The next good source can be a broad keyword search or the search for topic-related books, which may lead you to the specialists who have worked on the subject. Next thing one can use is long form journal articles, a good source of information about dates and other data that may possibly be needed.
2) Radio archives
As pointed out by Elizabeth Klinck, the next step should be radio archives because, to begin with, it happens to be a rich source of archive material, often in transcript, from all over the world, but also because they may be utilised as narrative lines. Moreover, in case the documentary is about a dead person, this is the only chance for their voice to be heard. Another positive aspect of employing radio interviews is that they are often quite extensive and the interviewees tend to speak longer and more openly, because only sound is recorded without the image.
3) Google alerts & newspaper archives
Modern technology offers yet another tool for collecting material for whatever gets published in news websites or any other kind of sites or blogs concerning the topic of our documentary: Google alerts. Traditional newspaper archives can however be just as useful, offering very specific dates which can be used in any further archive research. What the filmmakers have to constantly keep in mind is that the title of an article is public domain, whereas the whole article, the name of the newspaper or the journalist are subject to copyrights and one must obtain a permission in order to use them.
Searching for the people who will talk about a topic & locations
This is the next step. One may contact these people either via traditional means, or using the social media. Sometimes, however, it is useful to get in one’s shoes and try to think the kind of person a specific group of people would want to have contact with, such as doctors, organisations, schools etc., and get in touch with them instead. As for the locations issue, Elizabeth Klinck pointed out that one needs to have all necessary permissions always in advance and to know exactly what they are allowed and not allowed to film, for example which buildings of famous architects or monuments are subject to copyrights. For this reason it is advisable for filmmakers to turn to the Film & Video libraries of the city or country they’re filming in, whereas, when the shooting takes place in a foreign country, to be in contact with the local embassies.
Filming of people and sites
Documentary filmmakers must sign the copyright permission documents every time they film a person, but also when using video or photo material, as well as when filming people’s homes. When filming minors, a written permission from their parents or guardians is always needed, while for all the other persons filmed, the filmmaker has to make a clarification that the recorded material may be used for the film’s promotion. Elizabeth Klinck noted that, when filming in open spaces or concert/performance spaces, it is advisable to avoid close-ups on people and preferably take back shots, but in any case the filmmakers need to announce that the event is going to be filmed, so as to avoid lawsuits, something that’s happened in the past.
Her practical advice concerning the people that participate in a documentary is that the filmmaker should always inform the participants in advance that he/she will need to have their permission and, in case this is granted on the phone, the filmmaker has to verify it via email later on. Ms Klinck also added that personal contact is usually what convinces most people to participate. For big companies, it is advisable to have the copyright permission documents sent to the PR or Press departments in advance, so that they have been checked and thus avoid any delays. In addition, one practical advice by a director who shared his experience with the audience, is to film the same interview twice because, on the one hand, this can give you two different angles which will offer more material for the editing and, on the other hand, because people who are being interviewed might say more things or think more calmly during the second take.
Searching for image and video material
Searching for image and video material in archives, institutions and internet sites that provide it for no charge, or a small charge, but also the capabilities offered by Google’s image reverse search, were some of the topics discussed later on. Elizabeth Klinck referred to several Internet websites and the ways one can use them to find the material needed for their film, stressing, however, that it is essential for the filmmakers to check that the archive site has obtained the copyrights and it doesn’t just offer access and distribution. She also recommended to filmmakers to print the page that states that the images and videos are public domain and are not subject to copyrights. But even for video files which are not for free, it is often better for a filmmaker to buy the copyright in an amount that is not necessarily very high, in order to gain the right to use certain material, instead of trying to film it; a process that will probably cost more, both in money and time.
As for videos, sports broadcasts and film excerpts are often quite expensive and also need a copyright permission from more than one person. That’s why most of the times it is better and more affordable for a director to buy a series of photos of an event and use them in editing.
In music there are three composition, recording and performance rights, with respective permissions that need to be obtained by everyone, very often at a high price. This is the reason why most of the times it is best for a director to work with a composer, so that the film will have original music which can be used for the promotion as well, or to buy only the composition rights and use a cover version with a musician he/she works with.
