As a documentary filmmaker that is intrigued about the technological immersion in our culture and how digital media will serve as archival material, I have been contemplating the power and effectiveness of an ‘open sourced’ model of documentary work. I find it funny that this idea is so simple and yet so brilliantly beautiful and intricate in its own way. What better way to document citizens of diverse cultures and backgrounds by allowing them to tell their own message on their own terms. Public media in its simplest terms. This weeks look into expanded documentary projects was very moving to me; forcing myself to ask if my work can push towards establishing a project of this type, or at least contribute to the creation of this type of public media. I have always thought that it is crucial for media makers to allow people to tell their own stories and we act to merely bridge a gap to a larger broadcast. I have been very interested in addressing the issue of a “shelf-life” of journalistic pieces (be it documentary, written word, audio pieces or photo journalism) and how these projects can live on to serve a greater purpose within the community. It seems that through our research into various types of media, there has been this common element of journalism working towards serving a greater function, and acting to use technology as a tool for archiving and collecting voices to rise against the oppressors. I would also argue that these works hold a higher value to the community through their direct participation with the creation of media.
I think these types of community driven projects are going to take over as one of the primary forces of documenting history (and providing a platform for commentary that will also be saved). The online archived communities created through Localore’s Here Hear (recording stories of people who visit public libraries in the San Francisco and Oakland area ) and Sonic Trace (mapping the story of immigrants in Los Angeles) aim to illuminate the overall lifestyle and complications that the people of these cultures face on a daily basis. I was really impressed with the Sonic Trace project and the choice to “map” people’s stories because it made light of how different L.A. neighborhoods have a direct link to cities around the world. The project described itself as creating an “oral history mosaic of Los Angeles” which I think is a beautiful and fresh approach to displaying content. These projects shed light on ways of life that may be very foreign and difficult for us to understand, effectively giving audiences a chance to empathize with their fellow human beings. I think that these projects could be seen as one step in a push for a globalized understanding of the collective health and wellbeing of citizens as a whole.
I was also very moved with Bear 71, which is easily the most interactive story I have ever experienced. The documentary, told from a first person narrative of a female bear, was an interesting way to formulate years of footage from the wild that may not have amounted to much. Instead, audiences are given an inside and interactive look on the strains that societies have placed on animals struggling to survive in the wild. Taking the animals interaction with nature to tell a linear story for audiences to actively participate in is interviewing technology, story and nature in new and interesting ways that will likely be used increasingly in the future of data visualization.
More than moved, I am haunted by that Bear 71 documentary. Even if you just follow the story, there is such a narrative force to it that is very compelling. Of course the elegiac musical scoring helps and the fact that we know it was a real animal out there who had all these harrowing experiences. I think that in the final analysis, we still need some elements of fiction to make the facts shine. And if you go by the premises of the “Storytelling Animal,” that part of ourselves that we often associate with the appreciation of fiction might actually be more grounded in (psychological) reality than we think.
Katelyn & Grace – Do either of you know if Bear 71 is named Mary? One of the videos I clicked on, during the documentary, was about a bear named Mary who was killed (I’m assuming by hunters). I might have to go back and re-watch the Bear 71 documentary because now reading people’s posts, I’m a little confused.
While I am excited about the “technological immersion in our culture” as you said above, part of me is a traditionalist when it comes to documentary films. However, I am curious and excited to see we are heading.
Perhaps it is, as I always say, form follows function. There are multiple paths to choose from depending on how a project may evolve in the world (and the finances available to get it into the world)…Longform films will always be with us, always. Yet, I ask you to consider how will these amaingly wrought experiments influence the future that YOU will be creating?