Showing Rushes

While in Newcastle I spent a few hours at Yipp HQ showing Patrick Collerton the footage from my recent stay with my sister.  Its one thing to write this blog and waffle on about theories and intentions, and another thing to show the footage itself, and to look at it with a critical eye. 

Patrick was very quick to see what I had done and more importantly what was missing.  I had only filmed when alone with J, and as a result of the way I try to be very calm with her, everything I had filmed of J was somehow similar.  By not filming her interactions with anyone other than my polite self, I hadn't given her a chance to fully be herself on screen.  As a result I ran the risk of objectifying her in her 'illness', precisely the thing I had set out to avoid. 

  

When filming someone and somewhere you know so well it's often hard to gauge if it would interest an outside viewer as it does yourself, which is ultimately an important consideration. It's difficult to get that distance. But Patrick seemed to find J very intriguing and agreed that where she lives is remarkably beautiful, and his general encouragement was reassuring.