It’s hard not to be sentimental while writing my final blog of 2016. So instead, I’m going to be cold and clinical.

Here is a transcript of what I said for the final presentation (27/10/2016)…

“The participatory mode, which we’ll be talking about, blurs the lines between producer, distributor and  audience. But this is only a cursory glance at the concept… Bill Nichols argues that 1960’s sync sound marks the inception of this mode. Nichols also attributed participation to talk-back radio, host-television and even computer platforms. However, since Nichols’ quasi-monopoly of key filmic terms, many have applied their own interpretation to this Mode. Claire Bishop and Patricia Zimmerman are exemplars of this.  Zimmerman’s work has been described as virtual, public, social, hand-made, machine generated, community focused and delivered in a staccato style… as if fired from a machine gun. This is kind of what we have been aiming to achieve in this class. For me, having spent days and nights with the homeless community, with the look to having them contribute to my project’s website, has allowed me to reveal the possibilities of audience guided content. Our class has encouraged an emersion into a new way of social interaction and human exposition”.

Here is what I produced for my final PB4 documentary…

Here are my true feelings about participatory practice….

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Here is the path that I’m on…

Here… I am truly grateful for the support and encouragement from my peers but more so, the talented Kim Munro.  I should hope to see your creations in the halls of greatness and I trust that they will help me to confide in the notion that “Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were” (Carl Sagan).

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I cannot believe that I have never organised my Premiere Pro sessions this way before. I mean, it’s like a fundamental step in editing and the organisation of your media assets.

Bins.

Having had one hell of a mercurial ride on this documentary project, it is a wonder how I’ve made any progress at all.

After an altercation with the authorities and a dispute with the residents of the area, my key participant vacated his turf leaving no indication of where he had gone.

However, it was just a few days ago when I got a messenger note from him ensuring me that he was safe and well and that he is looking to get clean again. With this in mind, my original project has again taken a new direction but this time, one that I cannot begrudge.

I was hoping to talk about this face-to-face  with my class mates but due to  parenting commitments, Skype would be the next best thing.

Attending the class as a computer screen was actually not too bad as I was a witness to Matt’s production methods and project trajectory for his piece,  I was also able to talk to our lecturer Kim about improvements to mine.

Skype’s obviously not ideal but when you are driven to distraction by your own platitudes of why you can’t be available for class again, Skype is really the next best thing.

After washing my hands of getting further interviews for my documentary, I moved on to capturing b-roll vision. This consists of day and night shots of the area.

The night-time b-roll is lovely and I’m looking forward to putting it all together though, I would definitely benefit from having a second opinion on the storyboard as I’ve just been ruminating as if my project was on the meaning of life or something!

While I was shooting last night, serendipity would come my way. On the Chapel St and Toorak Rd intersection, a woman approached me and asked if I had dropped some money. She revealed two $50 dollar notes and asked if the $100 was mine. I replied, “No, it’s yours now”. However, she insisted that we split the finings and on that, she handed me $50 dollars, smiled and walked into the sunset. . . well, the sun had already set but that’s what it felt like!

How do I leave room for serendipity like this? By just keep shooting b-roll?

Maybe.

Today, I wanted to get some b-roll establishing shots for my final production. I thought I’d also pay a visit to Duncan, my key participant on the off chance that I could interview him further about music, life and living on the streets. However, he wasn’t at his hovel where I normally find him. In fact, all of the people in the area told me that he had gone AWOL after an altercation a few days earlier.

Great. Fucking great.

I’m obviously pissed. I’m pissed that I could’ve been doing something different with my time. I’m pissed that he has seemingly slid backwards, so to speak, from finding a home and developing some sort of modicum of stability in his life… if not for himself, but for his daughter. And I’m pissed that I can’t help but speculate as to how this will affect her in years to come.

m4-schedule-daily-wkldf2-2

The title of this blog has been paraphrased. What it should read is, ‘My schedule leading up to the end of the go out into the world and do great things as we know it’ which is kind of a portmanteau of that song by REM (1987) and the title of our studio.

For me, the song symbolises a certain sadness that I will no doubt feel when we complete the year but at the same time, a drive and tenacity to live up to the studio’s namesake and endeavour to make the world better.

The intention of this blog is to present to the world with a spreadsheet of my schedule, now, I understand that many may find spreadsheets dry… or maybe not! I don’t know… either way, I thought I’d add this video to add life, flavour and hopefully an evocation of where the world is today 30 years on from REM’s seminal track.

http://s3521907.wixsite.com/breadandcircuses

My Project Brief 3, Bread and Circuses aims to elucidate how music and creativity can help to maintain wellbeing. It is a website that showcases a selection of short linear documentaries produced either by myself or members of a community that I will be exploring.

The project’s title, Bread and Circuses, is a term adapted from the Roman era, it was coined by the ruling class as a means to appease the ‘commoners’. Those in power would offer incentives like free food and entertainment in the hope that it would circumvent rebellion.

This is a notion that relates to my documentary as the participants have broken away from the social dominant system to become independent and self sufficient. NEVER THE LESS…  food and entertainment are still necessities but by contrast, these participants acquire food by providing their own circus, it is their music that is the foundation for their happiness and survival.

Please visit!

http://s3521907.wixsite.com/breadandcircuses 

Dave

Georgia

Duncan

http://s3521907.wixsite.com/breadandcircuses

I’ve just began piecing together my footage for the next assignment. It’s raw and random but occasional reveals moments of beauty, rhythm, sadness and courage.

I’m so excited to see what comes of this participatory documentary as I start laying down the dominos of a narrative that will seemingly not conform to a linear pathway.

The journey so far has been this up/down mercurial rollercoaster with a thatched roof. I try to hold the thing together but it just keeps blowing apart… structurally, emotionally, ethically. I feel safe, but at the same time saddened,  that the premise of this story as a deep and untenable foundation that may never be understood while intolerance and greed rule these streets.

Stealth Bomber

Dave

Georgia

Duncan