Project on Hold

Just as with this project I am interested in hearing more about what is going on in my environment, my city, and with the people I care about, I am starting a project to document a controversial development of land in Milwaukee county. Visit this to find out more. Here is a link to the site.

Sound Strategy Draft 1

Just as with the light capturing strategy, i hoped not to mislead folks into thinking I'm not recording our conversation, but I guess I want to try and make the experience more like a conversation and not like an interview. I don't want the media to come in between the experience of both of us. I hope to kind of gather and immerse the viewer or audience in what was going on, uncomfortable kinds and all, to kind of see how much of a struggle it is sometimes to make connections. I have to kind of think of a reason I'm there, maybe just to study 7 mile and Jones Island. I know i would like to get some footage of the fisher people, of what it sounds like under that bridge and why folks might want to come there. Close to almost medium distance with the mics. Try to get a good sound of tradition/and history over time in this space, what might that sound like.

Light Capture Strategy Draft 1

I'm not sure how this would pan out, but I want to interview folks in conversation with me on the traditions they have. I have a draw to people, where they come from, how they're shaped. A lot of how folks communicate and draw connections comes from their overall background like what culture, socioeconomic background, and location they happen to inhabit or have inhabited. I'm hoping to devise a way that I can broach the subject of filming their reactions without tainting those reactions with the medium. How can I film the intricacies and capture the aura of the experience without making them feel uncomfortable. Maybe have them film me, maybe put myself under that same light and go through the process of unpacking just as I'm asking them to do.

Draft 1 of Production Strategy

I was tipped off to the idea of being able to capture history over time as it relates to space. Also, I am interested in tradition. My curiosity about spontaneity is what I will use to guide me through this project. There is something that happens around late March and early April here in Milwaukee. The tradition of smelt fishing. I had no idea what a smelt is, why they are fished, how long they are fished, and what ties that fishing has to the people in this city. So! I found a fishing forum online and discovered that most of the smelt fishing in this area happens on Jones Island.

Here is where Jones Island is:



I found out through a little bit of research that there is a rich tradition with smelt as a fish, that some of the tradition is even superstitious and involves one specific ritual. The ritual happens when the first fish is caught. Once the first fish is caught, it is tradition to bite the head off of the fish and throw the body back in the water, as a sort of tribute to the "smelt gods" and also symbolizes a passage of time or rebirth after a long winter.
I just have to find out what that ritual might mean to the current smelt fisherman and see if I could somehow make a connection to them and their ritual even though I really don't like fish and the thought of biting a fish head off really makes me ill... I find this kind of tie to place and time in tradition novel as we live more and more in a timeless, space less world.

How can I convey spontaneous connection with no more than 2 people/events visually and sonically?

Curiosity #3

Curiosity #3: Is fear of difference something inherent or cultural?
Plausible Causes:
Connections made with a language barrier that were more engaging than without that barrier. Difference and deviation is frowned upon, but also revered.

Curiosity #2

Curiosity #2: Is language almost a barrier to communication?
Plausible Causes:
Feelings of disconnect was common, fear of being noticed. A heightened perception by way of engaging with the senses. The less perceived connection, the more promising the outcome.

Curiosity #1

Curiosity #1: Are we allotted spontaneity anymore?
Plausible Causes:
I am curious about this because for some reason I was overwhelmed with how amazing it felt to encounter a family playing hockey, that I would not have had this experience had our worlds not intersected at that time. Emphasis is put on production and results. We are all on a schedule.

Recalled Situation

As I walked down a moderately busy stretch of ground between what I think is some kind of “lodge” for park personnel and the road all I could hear was a smacking of a stick, hollow scratches, and a lot of random screeches and screams. The sounds were coming from maybe a block away from where I was walking. I decided to look closer and see what this was about. My initial reaction was that someone was getting hurt, but it turns out that there was a man and some kids playing hockey on the little pond by the bike path. As I got closer I saw that they had shoveled the snow off of the ice and made a homemade rink. They had placed random articles of clothing, a mitten and maybe a hat, as goal markers. Boy, were they tearing it up on this frigid day! I thought, who would be out here in this weather…voluntarily.
The closer I got, the more conscious I was to my own presence. I started to worry and wonder if this situation was appropriate to record and questions like, “is my recording going to be some kind of violation on these kids?” That’s just it, I had a thousand situations running through my head, mainly one of me on some dateline NBC shtick where the fake reporter-investigative-Geraldo Riveraesqe-man is asking me, “What were your intentions, didn’t you know that recording these children playing a game of hockey was violating the law?” “What ever happened to privacy and minding your own business?” “Don’t you have better things to do with your time than poking around in parks for innocent kids to record?”
Needless to say, I had to kind of power through my initial fears, approach the family, ask if I could maybe record their game, and explain that the sounds of their game interested me. The man, who I assume was their father/guardian came up to me right away and after I kind of explained my intentions, he and his kids went along with their game. After we connected, after the initial fear went away I started to record and for the most part came up with around 15 minutes of footage. I received some confusing, interested, puzzled, but for the most part inquisitive responses to my recording from the kids. After I was done I asked a few of the kids if they wanted to hear their voices, they were so excited! I thanked them and went on my way.
A thing you should know about this family, none but the father spoke English. In this element of situation was, I feel, where most of my curiosity in our connection lie. In most of the recordings I couldn’t understand what anyone was saying. The kids would ask me questions, scream for a pass, or just play as I recorded. I knew that I didn’t know what was going on, but the most interesting part of that was in the fact that I felt more connected to those folks with a language barrier between us, than most of the folks I encountered on my walk, that we were engaging through mutual interest. I was able to share a part of me, and they with me using minimal speech.
I walked away from this invigorated with a faith in connection making. The feeling of knowing that we were engaging with time together made it easier to later approach other people and situations. I think I was building a sort of confidence in other people, I think I became less fearful of consequence having had that 15 minute hockey game encounter. The fear that came over me initially I think was what we’ve been kind of hinting at as artists. “What right do you have as an artist to record the world and for what purpose will it be used?” This is a sort of age old question, but one that has become a hot issue the more under a microscope, the more censored, under surveillance, and increasingly more monitored our daily lives are in our cultural evolution. We’re almost becoming agoraphobic paranoid Nervous Nellie’s just craving some kind of real connection to our lives.