Community Media - Interactive World

  Making a film is an exciting project for any organisation, but what is involved is often poorly understood. But don’t be put off, it’s just a case of being clear about what you want to do at the outset. A community film is a great way to bring people together because film-making requires a collaborative approach and a wide range of skills. The first point to consider is whether the priority is process or product . A process led approach values inclusion, participation and engagement of the (initially untrained) target group(s). This approach values learning skills and everyone enjoying taking part A product-led film leaves most of the work to a commercial company and the focus will be on a highly-finished glossy product. Stakeholders will be consulted, but most significant roles will be undertaken by staff who are very experienced and highly trained. Some people would argue that the process and product distinction is not as clearcut as it first appears; but thi...

Time to Fix the Environment: Manchester shows that Celebrity and Community is not a Toxic Mixture Celebrity and Community are much-abused words. The darker (or should we say glitzy?) face of celebrity is greedy, ego-centric people and their failing relationships; their multiple addictions; their constant see-saw between the need for high visibility and a hard-won private life. Occasionally, a token charity is endorsed, or a baby adopted – and that provides the living proof of the beating human heart. For many people of modest means there is an objection to the cult of celebrity, and a system that permits awesome inequality. Is a footballer really worth a million times more than a nurse? It’s not the indvidual celebrity that we love or hate, it’s the systematic inequality that sanctions it. Perhaps we need to remember, however, that celebrity springs from celebration – coming together to share and endorse something. Pleasure not pain. The word community has its own problems. First, we...

In pure, that is to say, realistic terms, a ‘no-budget film’ is a myth. Leave no- budget-film to rich kids. And over-hyped websites. For the rest of us, having a plan , and having a budget are essentials, not just media hype. I’m tired of reading no-budget sites that begin the words  ‘whether your budget is $2000 or $100,000’ – that looks to me like a budget.  It would be more accurate to speak about low -budget, non-commercial or volunteer-led film-making, rather than ‘no-budget’ film-making. Let's also admit that a film can be made for next-to-nothing if you are living in an affluent country. Let’s concede also that there are many ways to reduce costs, save money, and cut corners. Vision, versatility and sheer doggedness will get you a long way. But many of the 'costs' are simply transferred elsewhere: by borrowing equipment from a government/ community organization, or from an individual, or a private, a charity or an NGO; by shari...

Lord Puttnam in Birmingham. Screen WM Event at the Birmingham Hippodrome. 10th June 2009 It was reassuring to hear Lord Puttnam speak. What an asset he is for the industry and for those who care about film. In particular, I enjoyed his emphasis on the social role of film. It's so easy to fall in with the prophets of technological progress, innovation, and digital skills, as though these are a worthy end in themselves; as though we could eliminate poverty through digital equality and having more gadgets. (Across most of Africa 97% of the population is not online.) Lord Puttnam reminded us of need for a prior engagement with community and citizenship which might be supported by the dream of improved communications; social connection rather than fascist exclusion. Also resonant for me in his speech was the notion of global dialogues and environmental issues. He was looking to the new, younger generations to raise awareness and understanding. He appeared to be critical of the lack of a...

Time to turn up the volume and press record. Let's communicate. Getting your message out may not be as difficult as you think. When we started our community film festival in Northampton we had few difficulties gaining the attention of local, regional and national media. The BBC spent a whole day with us; we had several radio appearances and multiple pages of coverage in the newspapers. If we had paid for our publicity as advertisement we would have needed tens of thousands of dollars. As a small non-profit venture our project needed the oxygen of free publicity to make it a success. In these cash-strapped times a well-crafted press release is an excellent source of free publicity and not as difficult as you may think. In our rush to digital we often forget the reach, coverage and the value of the existing traditional media. In fact, local media are hungry for news items to fill their columns. National media and regional TV, however, tend to cover larger events of ‘natio...

Social Enterprise back in fashion but poorly understood Currently, governments across the world are promoting non-profit activity alongside local initiatives for community development. The popularity of social enterprise has been increasing as a marginal alternative to the dominance of public or government-led services. But the notion of social enterpise is not at all well known beyond the third sector (charities, not-for-profit, voluntary groups and social enterprise). Most people have not heard of Third Sector either, I suspect. I recall one of my University colleages responding with an indignant and rather dismissive reaction to social enterprise. He concluded that ‘social enterprise’ was just another example of Orwellian newspeak. Worse still, 'social enterprise' was a return to the agenda of 19 th -century capitalism - with its notions of the deserrving and the undeserving poor. Enterprise was business and greed, strife rather than harmony, and militated fundamentally...

Poststructuralism as performance.... The Fold of Creativity and Critique A Methodological Introduction by Dr Ian McCormick 'Poststructuralism' is a bewildering combination of theoretical projects and their applications. At best I shall be contending that elements of the poststructuralist approach afford the possibility of an open and balanced approach to the twin dynamics of criticism and creativity; poststructuralism folds one into the other. Underpinning my 'methodology' is the sense that both criticism and creativity are required in the shifting process of performance and that they are inseparable as the twin strands of participatory drama. Moreover, a poststructuralist approach serves to interrogate all conventional binaries such as teaching/learning, or acting/observing. More than just turning them upside-down, or reversing them, a poststructuralist would uncover the trace, play, or spectre, of one inside the other. Accordingly, poststructuralism employs an exhilar...