Real camera, unreal vision
Is what you see or what you film definitely real?
1.Is the camera a true reflection of what the eye sees?
Whether the footage filmed by the camera is a true representation of what is seen on a visual level depends to a large extent on the quality of machine itself and the lens. In comparison to a standard version of a normal camera or a professional-grade camera that takes film, the broadcast-grade cameras we focus on in this field are considerably different in terms of structure, quality, and the footages they film. Broadcast-quality cameras, however, could film footages that are quite similar to what the human eye sees. These cameras are more documentary and can recreate the visual content of what the eye sees to the greatest extent possible.
2.Is what your visual presents necessarily true?
BACKGROUND:
For the fifth interview, I showed my informants a video with great visual and auditory conflict and interviewed them about their feelings.
About the video：
That's a video of my another informant. Due to the rules of privacy and anonymity, I am unable to publish the whole video here, but I hope the following information will be helpful.
【BACKGROUND of this video : This is a true story and a true visual record. Here is the thing. One day, I was out shooting a documentary. The person I filmed was a middle-aged man with a friendly, approachable face. During the time I was filming, he was working diligently on his charity work. Suddenly, he said he had to leave for five minutes. During the time he was gone, I turned on the video camera and started filming the surroundings (the footage in the video is what I saw when I heard that audio). However, as I had forgotten to turn off the recorder he had with him, I could still hear him in the distance, even though he was no longer in the picture. So while my eyes saw the scene below, what my ears heard was…】
To protect the privacy of non-informants, images of people appearing in this video have been redacted.
Findings:
I don't have a uniform answer to this question, and I don't think there is a standard answer.
Some participants believe that the images seen by the eyes are real and believable; others argue that human vision is influenced by the subconscious and inherent thoughts in the brain, thus it might not the reproduce of the real world.
Regarding this issue, I agree with Elizabeth that what is captured by the camera and what is seen by the eye is both real and not real. Real because these images are some representation of the diverse world; untrustworthy because all visual information is one-sided and has to be considered in conjunction with the other senses in order to have authenticity and integrity.