User:Grrrreat/research/notes-18-06-12

The Be Kind Rewind Protocol is a book in which Michel Gondry explains his 'Cinema-Factory' model and how it took shape over time. In essence it is a manual written by him on how to create a film in a very fast way without prior knowledge of filmmaking. It includes many constraints and a very structured approach, leaving enough space in these structures for the participants to feel creative throughout the process.

The constraints and guidelines are set along th border of a general cliche of a mainstream idea of narrative film. This enables the process to draw on a cultural language that is widely known and very recognisable. Therefore it is easy for the participants to create something without any prior knowledge of the medium or specialised skills that can stille be recognised as a movie.

Building a Gondry factory for example not on the basis of something that is in the general cultural memory but something that is far more specialized or off mainstream culture like making a manual on how to produce avant-garde films or on how to record a drone-ambient song might be destined to fail since their prototypical forms are not as widely known as those of Hollywood cinema.

But he also breaks with traditions of producing film in order to heighten the fun and the aspect of creating something as a community/group. For example the manual states that there are no retakes and the order of shooting must be chronological.

One question is wether this is a method of actually empowering people to make films or if it is actually a participatory artwork done by Gondry. Judging by the limitations and the strict boundaries Gondry created something like a performative factory artwork. The point that makes it hard to call it that, at least for me, is that apparently the people are having a lot of fun creating these movies, performing in Gondry's generative and scriptless play.