SAFEGAURD POLICY & GUIDELINES
Though our productions are to inform, educate and engage an audience to participate in humanitarian relief endeavors, it comes with a significant responsibility to take care in the process of capturing a subject's story and in how the subjects are portrayed. Everyone has the right to live free from fear, abuse, neglect and even free from unnecessary hardships and we greatly value being diligent to protect their safety, basic human rights, and their honest portrayal within our productions.
Due to the sensitive nature of the work, stories and information that are contained and highlighted within our productions, our organization makes it a top priority to have safety guidelines and measures in place in order that the participants and persons, who are subjects within our produced material, can feel safe and protected. In order to prevent the appearance of "profiting from peoples' suffering," we also make it a priority to assure and notify participants and persons that the use of their images and/or stories will only be used for editorial and philanthropic purposes and not for commercial gain unless otherwise stipulated within written notice and with ample time for consideration.
Safeguarding is used to define actions taken to protect vulnerable groups from harm, particularly from people working closely with vulnerable people. A child is defined as anyone under the age of 18. Therefore, safeguarding children is about protecting all those under the age of 18 from abuse, maltreatment and exploitation as well as preventing actions that would harm their health or development. Vulnerable adults and groups are defined as people who, for whatever reason, may be unable to protect themselves against abuse, maltreatment or exploitation and does not refer to adults lacking mental capacity. Safeguarding vulnerable adult groups is preventing the risk of harm and exploitation while supporting people to maintain control of their own lives.
- Visits & Filming of Vulnerable Persons
A guide, director/supervisor or staff person from the host organization is required to act as chaperone for our organization's crew or staff and must not leave the film crew unattended or alone in places that are NOT reasonably considered public places—other adult persons must be present—during filming/video capture. Access to communication by way of cellphone, internet or two-way radio (walkie talkies) is required for our film crew during periods where the host organization's supervisor or staff is unavailable though a guide or chaperone may be present.
Informed Consent must be obtained by the film crew and provided by the subject freely without coercion, pressure or wheedling (from the film crew, the subject's spouse, or host organization) as it is our goal that participation be perceived to be positive and a blessing. The subject is free to end the filming/video capture at any time, and may freely rescind consent for the use of their image, story or voiceover prior to the finalization of the edit of the project. The subject is also free to prohibit the use of specific aspects expressed during filming/video capture and can identify any boundaries or prohibitions of any preclusions of image capturing (i.e. A woman may be fine to be filmed/videoed in an interview but not want to participate in allowing Broll shots of her family home, or of her children.).
- Filming/Video Capture of Minors As Focal Subjects
It is a general practice to NOT have minors as subjects in Fallen Tree Production's film/video productions. However, in any projects where minors are used as subjects, the legal parent or guardian will be informed of the project, its use and purpose in order to obtain parental informed consent for the use of their child's image, story or voiceover. Consent must be given freely without coercion, pressure or wheedling (from the film crew or host organization) as it is our goal that participation be perceived to be positive and a blessing. A parent or legal guardian must be present during filming/video capture or voiceover recordings at all times. The legal parent and/or subject are free to end the filming/video capture at any time, and may freely rescind consent for the use of their image, story or voiceover prior to the finalization of the edit of the project.
- Filming/Video Capture of Minors Within B-Roll Or As Incidental/Collateral Persons
Fallen Tree Productions will make every reasonable attempt to acquire parental informed consent for use of their child's image. However, there are occasions where exceptions will exist:
- at events, developments or facility locations where the host organization or an agent, client or partner of the host organization has acquired media consent from the legal parents or guardians of the children
- as collateral imagery in the background of the images where they are not the distinctive and solitary point of focus
- as collateral imagery in open-and-public places where applicable by law
- as Broll where their image is a collection of incidental walk-throughs during a tour of the host organization or their agent, client or partner, and other types of broll
We are happy to blur/distort faces in order to obscure the minor's identity or remove the images completely—where it is possible to do so without losing the primary point of focus and the significance of the instant image—where we are contacted by a legal parent or guardian who expresses a desire to do so.