It's about time that I wrap up this blog and provide my final reflections on our film and the class in general. I will start by comparing our film in its current state with our treatment that we formulated earlier on in the semester. I will then relate what we have done with the subject matter of Anth 309: Visual Anthropology, in order to situate our work and the course within the trajectory of ethnographic film.
Treatment:
There were a couple things that we had planned on including that we had to replace with different components, and some things that had to be omitted completely. For instance, we did not show any images of Maynard's 9/11 piece, which we originally thought would be relevant to the theme of educating and making connections through art. Due to constraints on our time and on the actual film, however, we decided not to include this piece into the project. We had also hoped to be able to zoom out of the center panel of the piece head on, to both complete and conclude the film, but because we could not shoot the center panel head on without distracting reflections and glares in the glass, we had to abandon this idea. The treatment also states that the third section would be peppered with shots from the installation. Shawn set up a camera while the piece was being installed and got some good footage, but we decided only to use a very small bit of this footage, and instead invoked the sense of progression using the images Maynard had sent us of the piece in various stages of production.
A structural element that we had to rework was the tripartite division of the film to reflect the three panels of the piece. Our interpretation of what each panel meant differed from the explanations Maynard gave us in the interview. So rather than having each section directly invoke a panel, we retained the tripartite structure, but encompassed the discussion of the left and right panels within the second section of the film. We had also planned to incorporate footage of Maynard sketching the original design within the first partof the film, to invoke Maynard's manual process of artistic production. We did have him recreate the piece with paper and pencil, but we predominately used shots of him painting works that were in progress, because they provided vibrant and interesting colours, demonstrated his attention to detail, and most importantly, because that is what Maynard wanted to do. The change was definitely for the better; the footage we obtained of Maynard working on these pieces looks quite nice and really brings something to the first section. We also scrapped the classroom scene and replaced it with just the blackboard map shots to invoke the residential schools. This change was made due to time constraints, and because we decided that the insertion of a classroom scene might not be logical in the overall flow of the narrative.
Our Project in the Trajectory of Ethnographic Film:
One of the top priorities of our group was to accurately and ethically portray Maynard and his work by his own standards. From the very first stages of planning, we would make each decision based on what we thought Maynard would have wanted. It would have been nice to be able to actively involve Maynard in every aspect of film production, but obviously, that was not feasible, nor was it our assignment. The amount of time and input that he gave us was far beyond what we had expected, and we are incredibly grateful for that.
In this vein, our project somewhat descends from Jean Rouch's shared anthropology. Our project is not simply for us or for our public audiences, but for Maynard, the subject of the film. The motivation for us to produce a high quality, respectful, and accurate film was because we understood that what we produced would be a representation of Maynard, and that we would be giving it back to him for his own use and distribution. We had to be reflexive in our consideration of our role as anthropological filmmakers representing an Indigenous artist with his own individual voice and agency, and be mindful of the the potentials for imbalanced power that exist within film production. Similar to Rouch, although perhaps not such an overt fashion, we wanted to leave our audience asking questions; Maynard does not offer up a recipe for reconciliation (nor should he be able to), but his artwork provokes questions of how Indigenous peoples and settlers can move forward along a reconciling path, and how we all must position ourselves within the trajectory of Canadian history in a manner that appreciates the inextricable linkage between colonialism and the present day status quo.
Treatment:
There were a couple things that we had planned on including that we had to replace with different components, and some things that had to be omitted completely. For instance, we did not show any images of Maynard's 9/11 piece, which we originally thought would be relevant to the theme of educating and making connections through art. Due to constraints on our time and on the actual film, however, we decided not to include this piece into the project. We had also hoped to be able to zoom out of the center panel of the piece head on, to both complete and conclude the film, but because we could not shoot the center panel head on without distracting reflections and glares in the glass, we had to abandon this idea. The treatment also states that the third section would be peppered with shots from the installation. Shawn set up a camera while the piece was being installed and got some good footage, but we decided only to use a very small bit of this footage, and instead invoked the sense of progression using the images Maynard had sent us of the piece in various stages of production.
A structural element that we had to rework was the tripartite division of the film to reflect the three panels of the piece. Our interpretation of what each panel meant differed from the explanations Maynard gave us in the interview. So rather than having each section directly invoke a panel, we retained the tripartite structure, but encompassed the discussion of the left and right panels within the second section of the film. We had also planned to incorporate footage of Maynard sketching the original design within the first partof the film, to invoke Maynard's manual process of artistic production. We did have him recreate the piece with paper and pencil, but we predominately used shots of him painting works that were in progress, because they provided vibrant and interesting colours, demonstrated his attention to detail, and most importantly, because that is what Maynard wanted to do. The change was definitely for the better; the footage we obtained of Maynard working on these pieces looks quite nice and really brings something to the first section. We also scrapped the classroom scene and replaced it with just the blackboard map shots to invoke the residential schools. This change was made due to time constraints, and because we decided that the insertion of a classroom scene might not be logical in the overall flow of the narrative.
Our Project in the Trajectory of Ethnographic Film:
One of the top priorities of our group was to accurately and ethically portray Maynard and his work by his own standards. From the very first stages of planning, we would make each decision based on what we thought Maynard would have wanted. It would have been nice to be able to actively involve Maynard in every aspect of film production, but obviously, that was not feasible, nor was it our assignment. The amount of time and input that he gave us was far beyond what we had expected, and we are incredibly grateful for that.
In this vein, our project somewhat descends from Jean Rouch's shared anthropology. Our project is not simply for us or for our public audiences, but for Maynard, the subject of the film. The motivation for us to produce a high quality, respectful, and accurate film was because we understood that what we produced would be a representation of Maynard, and that we would be giving it back to him for his own use and distribution. We had to be reflexive in our consideration of our role as anthropological filmmakers representing an Indigenous artist with his own individual voice and agency, and be mindful of the the potentials for imbalanced power that exist within film production. Similar to Rouch, although perhaps not such an overt fashion, we wanted to leave our audience asking questions; Maynard does not offer up a recipe for reconciliation (nor should he be able to), but his artwork provokes questions of how Indigenous peoples and settlers can move forward along a reconciling path, and how we all must position ourselves within the trajectory of Canadian history in a manner that appreciates the inextricable linkage between colonialism and the present day status quo.
Similar to Asen Balikei, we created our project to be part of a series of educational films. The purpose of the class as a whole and the project in particular was to take the theoretical knowledge we had gained from 309 and utilize it in an applied way. Balikei was highly engaged with the idea that anthropology should be included within classroom curricula, but we took our film even further; our film will be accessible through a QR quote right next to Maynard's piece so that students and anyone viewing the piece can view it and learn more about Maynard.
Unlike Rouch's cinéma vérité, our group explicitly decided that we did not want to be visually present within the film. In this manner, we acted more as the MacDougalls; we thought it would be inappropriate to insert our own reactions and opinions in a film that was ultimately meant to represent Maynard, although it must also be realized that we could not produce a film without bias. Our thoughts did bleed through into the production of the film, in the intertitles, for example, but we are able to reflexively recognize how our visual absence does not equate an objective position. Like the MacDougalls, we were uninterested in making any broad declarative theoretical statements with our film, but rather sought to provide a small insight into Maynard's work and identity.
Ultimately, I hope we did Maynard justice; his work and the effort and meaning he puts into it was very inspiring, and I feel very fortunate to have been able to work with him in this way.
Ultimately, I hope we did Maynard justice; his work and the effort and meaning he puts into it was very inspiring, and I feel very fortunate to have been able to work with him in this way.
