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LookingAfterContributors:DirectorsUKatTelevisualFactualFestival—livetweets
On Tuesday 14 November Directors UK members were invited to BAFTA Piccadilly for a special session at the Televisual Factual Festival: “Looking After Contributors”.
The session was moderated by Alicky Sussman, and featured the directors Sophie Robinson, Kirsty Cunningham and Ashok Prasad.
The discussion ranged from how to make the first approach to subjects in sensitive situations, to whether you could get too close to your contributors.
We're at BAFTA for a special session at #TVLFactFest on "Looking After Contributors" - follow #DUKFactual for the Tweets! pic.twitter.com/MLdTWhavWW
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Our panel today consists of directors Sophie Robinson, Ashok Prasad and Kirsty Cunningham, moderated by @SteamedPudding. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Kirsty Cunningham is a factual filmmaker whose credits include A Killing In My Family, Cutting Edge and 24 Hours In A&E.
Sophie Robinson is a factual filmmaker, with credits including My Beautiful Broken Brain, Horizon and Your Life In Their Hands.
Ashok Prasad is a factual filmmaker and a member of the Directors UK Board. His credits include Don’t Panic: The Truth About Population, Del Boys And Dealers and India’s Missing Girls.
Our panel today consists of directors Sophie Robinson, Ashok Prasad and Kirsty Cunningham, moderated by @SteamedPudding. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Alicky Sussman is a producer and director, whose credits include Horizon and Guts: The Mysterious World of the Human Stomach.
We start by talking about first approaches. Starting with Kirsty's "A Killing In My Family": how do you broach the subject? #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Kirsty: We first asked ourselves if it was the right thing to do, if the conversations need to be had. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Kirsty: But in fact shying away from the subject is more harmful, and this gave us the confidence to move forward. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Kirsty: We sat in on some sessions with Winston's Wish workers, it was very gentle. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Winston's Wish is a charity that supports bereaved children — you can find out more about their work below.
Stories of 3 Young People Supported By Winston's Wish
Kirsty: We made it very clear that not being filmed would not affect the support families got. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Kirsty: There was one filmed weekend and one non-filmed, families could opt for either. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Kirsty: We gave children and families a lot of detail, down to the sort of gear and set up we'd be using.#DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
#DUKFactual pic.twitter.com/vjzi4zWUsi
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Alicky asks Sophie about filming medical programmes - particularly on foetal medicine. How do you get contributors on board? #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Sophie: We talked people through everything, including how many people would be in the room and where they'd be standing. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Sophie: Doctors would reassure them, and we made sure they knew they always could say no - even after we got the footage. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Ashok: When filming abroad I find an intermediary to make sure people thoroughly understand what they're getting in to. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Ashok is asked about "The Steam" - the world of naked steam baths in East London. How did he get access? #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Ashok: Well, we all had to get naked too! #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
We watch a clip from Sophie's "My Beautiful Broken Brain". #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
You can watch a trailer for My Beautiful Broken Brain below.
My Beautiful Broken Brain | Official Trailer [HD] | Netflix
Sophie: I met the subject of the documentary in an unrelated work meeting. A long time later I got a call...#DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Sophie: The woman I'd met, Lotje, had suffered a serious stroke. She had drawn a picture of horizon, which people realised was..#DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Sophie:..was her asking for me, as I had worked on Horizon! #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Sophie: She works in the creative world, and was already filming herself as a diary. We met and decided to take it slowly. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Sophie: If either of us felt it weird we could break it off at any time. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Sophie: Lotje and I share a directing credit for this. It's our creative collaboration, and she did a lot of work. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Alicky asks the panel if you can get too close to your contributors. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Sophie: You do, but you can put things in place to prevent that. I brought in an executive producer to keep an eye. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Kirsty: You can, but I agree that the process should be collaborative - you need to be close sometimes. Ultimately, be human. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Ashok: You get embroiled in people's lives in a way that goes past just spending time with them for two months. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
We watch a clip from Ashok's "India's Missing Girls", on the subject of female foeticide. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Ashok: We dealt with all kinds of questions of what was right to film. We could maybe get footage there we couldn't here. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Audience questions now! The first is on how tenacious documentary makers need to be, and what the limit is. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Ashok: You need to be able to fight for your project, but also you need to be ready to let your progect go. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
And after a brief Q&A our session comes to an end. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Our session drew to a close, and all that was left was to thank our excellent moderator and contributors, and all the members who came along!
Thank you so much to our wonderful panel: Kirsty Cunningham, Ashok Prasad and Sophie Robinson. #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
And thank you to @SteamedPudding for moderating! #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
We hope all our members enjoyed it, and continue to enjoy #tvlfactfest with @televisualmedia! #DUKFactual
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017