Highrise NFB Participatory Documentary [and the city] The recent emergence and accessibility of new media technologies brings with it new opportunities for professions not traditionally associated with media production. The The productions chosen for the research. potentials for the use of documentary practice in urban research and design projects goes much further than the Hollow Participatory Projects Elaine McMillion, US Spectacle, London traditionally formatted video production. In-Situ This research project examines this potential, from both an ARTE, France HighRise aesthetic and working process viewpoints. The work looks NFB, Canada at five participatory and interactive films that focus on urban Les Communes des Paris issues. From this analysis it establishes working methods for Simon Buisson, France how documentary practice could be integrated into urban research and design projects. We will see how interactive and participatory documentaries are not only about the final finished product. They are as much about designing a storytelling process that engages with the voices of people, their communities and the places they live in. This process can often become a catalyst that empowers and engages the communities involved. While online interactive documentaries can encourage this participation by combining a range of media; photography, maps, soundscapes and data visualisations into one compelling experience for the viewer. How this research is structured Contents The research is a compilation of interviews with directors of the selected Working Methods Key Themes films, case studies looking at two key productions and an essay looking at The role of the filmmaker the historical relationship between documentary film and urban design. Developing a demonstration project Neighbourhood level Working methods are established from a number of key themes, central City Narrative Urban Research to this is the non-traditional role of the filmmaker within each process. How this can work is outlined in a number of demonstration projects with Case Studies The Thousandth Tower - Highrise Les Communes des Paris different project partners. This will hopefully become the second phase of the project in due course. Interviews Katerina Cizek - Director of Highrise Elaine Mc Millon - Director of Hollow This research is the result of a starter grant from the Dutch Creative Mark Saunders - Spectacle Industry Funds. Essay Documenting the Myths of Modernism Archive Challenge for Change The Social life of Small Urban Spaces Key Themes From the analysis six key themes have emerged that have a Empowering Communities particular relevance to urban research and design projects. The • Highrise In the three projects involving community participation table below highlights how the different themes appear in each the filmmakers worked closely with residents in • Hollow • Spectacle of the documentaries. Some of the productions such as High-Rise participatory mapping, storytelling and media workshops providing training and support so they engage with all of themes to a certain extent. While Les Communes could access the media tools to tell their own story. de Paris excels in map based story telling. Bringing their story to a wider audience empowers the community and amplifies their voice, while involving people in the documentary process is a great method All of the productions successfully engage with a wider audience to engage people in the debate about the future of the place where they live. achieve this is something often missing from urban research work. It is in the basic nature of documentary to be able to bring complex topics to a wide audience. This trait can be the biggest asset in integrating documentary practice with urban research. Community Media as Public Space • Highrise The development of community media projects often provides local residents with a new type of social meeting • Hollow space. In three of the documentaries the communities in • Spectacle question were provided with training and workshops in documentary production. Working with media became a catalyst for people to get involved. The workshops became RESEARCH THEMES an open platform for discussion reflection and debate Community Empowering Global Issues Map based Crowdsourced Engaging about wider issues affecting their neighbourhoods. This Media as Communities Personal Views Storytelling Research Audiences Public Space in turn gave people the means to reach a wider audience Hi-Rise + + +++ + + ++ with their concerns and ideas. Hollow ++ +++ + ++ ++ Spectacle ++ +++ + Les Communes +++ ++ des Paris Insitu + ++ +++ Global issues - Personal views Crowdsourced Research Both Highrise and Hollow have developed their • Highrise Two of the documentaries allow the audience to • Highrise documentary research alongside similar academic • Hollow participate and contribute to the overall project. This • Insitu projects. In the majority of urban research the personal brings benefits for both the documentary production views and stories are secondary to the main body of (more content) and the audience (sense of being part research while the opposite is true for documentary. of the project). Harnessing the power of the audience Telling a global story through a personal and intimate can make a relatively large research task a lot easier. perspective is one of the main skills of a documentary The engagement with contributors can expand the filmmaker. A personal viewpoint can bring a level of scope of the research and lead to new possibilities and meaning and depth to an issue with a responding level of connections. However it can also lead to incoherence understanding in the viewer. with an over production/supply of content. Map based Storytelling Engaging Audiences Maps are a fundamental element in every urban research • Highrise Engaging audiences works on two levels, it is about • Highrise project there is the potential with transmedia to integrate • Hollow generating viewers for the final content and motivating • Hollow an audience to become part of the process from early in stories into maps, through video, soundscapes and • LCd Paris • Spectacle animation. This can bring a new dimension to both the production. • Insitu • LCd Paris documentary storytelling and the presentation of urban research. Hollow generated a core audience through social • Insitu media networks and crowdfunding campaigns to build Interactive maps are integrated into a number of the awareness. With the result that the audience helps to projects. In the Les Communes des Paris case study we finance the documentary’s production and development. see how they are used effectively. This process has in recent years become an essential part of independent documentary production. Cross-referencing Themes Empowering Community Media as Global Issues Map based Storytelling Crowdsourced Research Engaging Audiences Communities Public Space Personal Views HighRise • Community led • Platform created for tower • Out My Window links personal • Interactive Google map in The world of • Interactive Google map in The • Multi-platform and multi year storytelling in The residents to voice concerns stories from people livving in HighRise allowing users to contribute World of HighRise allows users HighRise has both an online Thousanth Tower and discuss renewal plans similar towers around the world • Map based navigation in Out My to contribute locations of similar presence and appeared off amplifys their voices • One Millionth Tower • Whole production links number Window typologies around the world line in different formats at in the city renewal brought residents of global academic research • Out My Window participate festivals and in galleries proces. together with designers projects with personal intimate collates contributed photos taken • Participatory elements allow • Stories told and to re-imagine their stories from viewers windows. user to engage and presented at Toronto neighbourhoods. city Hall Hollow • Participatory mapping • A story told on the local level • Linked with the geography of the • Comphrensive strategy from and storytelling workshops but with universal themes region a map will allow viewers to the beginning to the end of with residents. for areas suffering from post navigate through the documentary project. • Residents producing their industrial decline • Successful Crowdfunding own films showing their campaign on Kickstarter • Social media charts the story with updates posted throughout the process Apango • Different community • The filmmaking workshops • Different community media media groups were with the community groups able to influence provided a forum for the regeneration residents to discuss the debate in their wider changes occurring neighbourhood. in their neighbourhood. Les Communes • Map serves as the primary mode of • Primarily web based a live navigation for the audience, allowing version was presented at des Paris a non-linear interactive route through IDFA’s DocLab in 2010 the city. Insitu • Map provides a secondary layer of • The interactive map allows the • Singular film navigation where viewers can browse audience to contribute and add • Online version contains through the films locations and to the database of street art extra interactive elements contribute locations locations What is the role of the filmmaker when they are challenged with working outside of their traditional boundaries? To guide the process the following points have emerged 06. Work closely with the community during the research,