AFTER: FILMING SECURE SCENES FILMING Filming for human rights can be dangerous. It can put you, the people you are filming and the communities you are filming in at risk. Carefully assess the risks before you press “record”. Do your best to implement the guidance below, but understand that nothing stated in this guide is absolute and you should modify the practices to fit your needs. When possible, seek support from local experts. Even if you cannot fully implement this guidance, your footage may still provide valuable information that could lead human rights organizations and advocates to answers and, in turn, to the protection of our basic human rights. INTRODUCTION In the field, we often focus our filming efforts on capturing the crime as it happens – capturing the police using excessive force during an arrest, bulldozers leveling homes or oil as it pours out of a crashed tanker. While footage showing the actual commission of an alleged crime may very well be valuable, it is also often valuable to have documentation of the before and after. Here we discuss how to film in the aftermath of a human rights violation. Why film after? Video filmed in the aftermath of an event - after the bullets have stopped flying, when the bombing has ended and the bulldozers are gone - tends to be useful for several reasons. It can be: • Used to easily illustrate an overview or layout of the crime scene allowing judges and juries to more readily understand what took place. • Valuable to show how other types of evidence were collected. For instance, it can be used to document the exhumation of a mass grave. • Used to verify that evidence has not been planted or falsified. Goal of filming the aftermath Enable others – investigators, analysts, lawyers and possibly judges - to visualize the scene, as the videographer first sees it. When well done, the video footage of a human rights incident scene should give viewers a sense of being there. Filming a secure scene Here are the broad steps to the “Spiral Approach” to filming a secure crime scene. Often, the steps cannot be followed as outlined because a space is too small, you can only film from one precise point versus being able to walk around the scene, a wall is blocking your path or any number of other reasons. So while you will have to modify the steps below to fit your situation and ensure you are filming safely, these basic principles apply: • As possible, capture narration and visuals that verify the time, date and location of the scene. • As possible film from every corner or side of the scene. • As possible, capture overview, wide, medium and close-up shots of the scene. TEST YOUR SKILLS After reviewing the method here, practice by filming a mock crime scene. Then give your footage to someone unfamiliar with the location. Ask them to hand draw a map of the scene you filmed. If the map is accurate, your videography skills are solid. If not, try again! 89 VIDEO AS EVIDENCE: FILMING SECURE SCENES V 1.0