30 Ways to Put the Community Into Film ...




A Checklist of 30 Questions to support the community film-making process - from first ideas to mass distribution.

1. Is your film defined by the collective engagement of all participants?

2. Is it a group narrative with multiple visions and voices?

3. Are there elements which are collaborative and improvisatory?

4. Are its questions and answers unpredictable and undetermined at the outset?

5. Is there a dialogue between creativity and critical analysis (making and reflecting)?

6. Is there a process or product that contributes to social change, empowerment and social justice?

7. Does you film build the social capital of the community?

8. Is there an opportunity for reflection and dialogue with other communities?

9. Have you fully employed the skills of community agents and artists in a supportive and empowering environment?

10. Are you prepared to take risks?

11. Does your film challenge traditions or expectations within and outside the community?

12. Have you negotiated aspects of its methodology/approach/plan of action?

13. Have you been  prepared to reconsider your methodology or ideology?

14. Is you film sensitive and responsive to ethical, ethnographic and postcolonial issues?

15. How much of your film was produced and led by volunteers, social actors, community participants and their supporters?

16. Have you been economical with resources and sustainable in your approach?

17. Is there an educational dimension that builds skills and confidence for individuals and the group?

18. Is your film designed to showcase democratic and inclusive processes and their outcomes?

19 Does your film create a product worthy of its participants’ efforts?

20. Have you captured the passion of the people involved or represented?

21. Is your film the conclusion and/or the commencement of a community enquiry process?

22. Is your film equipped to provide a body of evidence that counts as research?

23. Are you committed to finding new ways of engagement and interactivity through Web 2.0?

24. Is 'You' Singular or Plural?

25 Does your film work alongside other modes of activism and forms of communication?

26. Is your film a form of advocacy for social causes?

27. Does your film embrace spontaneity, acting, volunteering, gaps, wigs, rapping, sound worlds, technique, sweat, manners, scripting, youth, humour, risk, evolution, rebellion, make-up, repetition, costumes, tripods, outdoors, lights, cities, colour, panoramas, poetry, age, trains, dollies, butterflies … ?

28. Have you created a personal narrative of public value?

29. Is you work an act of faith and a form of communion with the other?

30. Have you considered any insights not listed ABOVE ?

Good luck!
© Dr Ian McCormick. But please do contact me if you want to use the TEXT of this article as a guest post on your blog. With attribution offered I seldom refuse!

For further information on the International Community Film Forum, please visit www.icff.info

Comments

  1. Dr Ian McCormick28 January 2010 at 01:35

    Did you find this information heplful?
    Did the ideas make sense?
    How would you improve it?
    Your opinions are highly valued and will assist me to improve my work - for the benefit of others too. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. chris30 April 2010 at 00:18

    thanks for your post, it has helped shape my thoughts. I am hoping to do a series of short videos of the olderandbolder folk in our rural community. any advice appreciated!
    chris

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dr Ian McCormick4 May 2010 at 06:27

    let me know how you get on! / how we can help?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Christian Tancred22 June 2010 at 04:59

    Hi Ian,
    Yes this post makes great sense and shows awesome insight. Great timing too as a friend rang me this morning for some assistance with structuring a multimedia/video project with Indigenous youth in Northern NSW, Australia. I am interested in participatory video and a the democratisation of media. Learning by doing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dr Ian McCormick14 January 2011 at 17:53

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Michael13 May 2011 at 12:02

    thanks Ian for the post! hope you don't mind if I republish on my site in our filmmakers help forum, I will only post the 1st 10 and link back here for the rest(-:

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

My blog posts are exploratory rather than finished works. You are invited to add any comments below...

Popular posts from this blog

How do academics read so many books?

Image
Scientia imperii decus et tutamen est First, let's interrogate the truth apparently proposed or implied in the titular question. Would it not be more accurate to state: it is believed that academics read lots of books. Is this true? For many undergraduates the notion that their Professor has read more than fifty books secures her a place in the same league as Wittgenstein or Dr Johnson. Far out! Strange! A living geek-book. So, the revered state of being widely read is a relative judgment. But let's grant that academics do 'read' rather a lot; perhaps more than average, perhaps excessively . For teachers in the arts, and in the social sciences, academic books are their primary tools and resources. Text is a living laboratory. Surely they spend every moment of their lives reading . That is to say, they might entertaining the possibility of reading in those great vistas of time the yawn like chasms between teaching, assessing, writing, and generally administerin
Read more

Social Media, Revolution and Historical Consciousness in Tunisia and Egypt

Image
                                           "Tremble all ye oppressors of the world!" Be warned that the title of this blog hints at its ambitious scope: the relationship between the kinds of communication available and the range of actions achievable. What can history tell us about the spirit of revolution and its effective transmission between individuals and between nations? Let me say at the outset that I value immensely the opportunities afforded by new media and social media. But I would not claim to be an unqualified cyber-evangelist, and I tend not to confuse virtual and real worlds. But the question of technological hype and social hyperactivity being mixed up with the evolving situation of hyper revolution and regime change is a most interesting one. Against the geektech utopians we need to assert that social media is not innately liberal or liberating. Web 2.0 has helped to create and promote opportunities for paedophiles and depraved pornograp
Read more

Ten Routes for Community Film Distribution

Image
Open Air Cinema 1. How Content and Style determine the Target Group It is alleged that very few community film makers start out with a clear sense of how their finished film will be distributed. This is the vexed question of the target audience. It also brings into play questions about the content of the film – the product – and whether it is fit for purpose in terms of its spectators. That means that the distribution agenda should always already be built into your production and planning process. There’s clearly no point filming disturbing adult scenes that will be unusable for a target group of children. And will people really sit through a two hour community film on any topic, unless they were major participants throughout? Is your film relevant to a wider community, and how can you get it out there? Here are some options to think about: Evaluating Distribution Options 2. Broadcasters: TV, Cable and Satellite (including Free-View Services). Apart fro
Read more