Jujube/methods-session-2

Session 2. Articulate the self-directed research

How can the methods class be useful in

1) articulating the project overall and

2) articulating your own part in the project

Ambacht

What are you making?

I am making a documentary of an artist couple in the south of Rotterdam, the owners of a cafe named Koffie & Ambacht. (Ambacht means craftsmanship in Dutch.) Gilbert is an artist/collector. Lies is furniture restorer and chef of the cafe.

After meeting him for the first time, I was intrigued by Gilbert’s character and envisioned a kind of portrait video of him. But as I got to know the couple, I decided to make the portrait of the two of them and the key spaces in their lives — namely, the cafe and their studio on the first floor of their house across the street.

One artistic experimentation in the documentary is to overlay continuous audio footage over still portraiture from the video footage. During our interview, I had the camera running for 20 minutes in one spot and 20 minutes in another. I am now in the process of selecting frames from the interview and freeze them in different lengths to see how certain moments can be emphasized. It’s an experimentation in the aesthetics of the documentary and how it might support the narrative.

Why are you making it?

Interesting people appeal to me. I first met Gilbert on a bike tour around art spaces in Rotterdam. He told us that “you need anger to do this” and that “I hate the word jazz” before proceeding to play a dissonant record to the crowd. I was particularly curious about his comments on Rotterdam South and his attitude towards music and art.

I thought I could learn a thing or two (without being overly cynical) about the place I had just moved to through the opinionated, if not rebellious, take on the arts in Rotterdam and the Netherlands.

The shoot happened over two days. One was mostly on the environment of and a concert in the cafe. The other was a sit-down interview, in which I asked them about their backgrounds, changes in life and identities. Gilbert and Lies responded strongly to culture and people around them and articulate their (dis)connections to these with their idiosyncrasies.

I started referring to the project as a documentary because it became clear to me that I was trying to portray these people in an honest way. And since they are such characters a narrative will probably develop through the editing.

Does this relate to other things you have done?

This documentary relates to my fundamental interest in people. This interest intensified during my time in NYC as a playwright. I started writing plays in more or less the same way: by having two voices in my head talk to each other. That was how I created stories about human nature. I also took photos of people on the subway for a year in NYC, all the while imaging stories behind each individuals in those images.

Another, more implicit framework for this work dates back to my days as a (human) geography student. The literatures of cultural geography have left an imprint on me where I contemplated much about the individuals and interactions that defined a unique place (as opposed to space or landscape). The relationships a person has to their dwellings, work/practice and other people in their lives have continued to amaze me, both intellectually and emotionally.

A lot of my works are seeded from serendipity, rooted in the daily moments. Like some of my past projects, I'm also using this one as a self-reflective exercise to learn about myself from the (new) people in a (new) place in which I find myself. I am shaping more of that into my methodology.

How is it different to other things you have done?

The medium of film (and within it, documentary), the workflow of the production and the technicality of operating a camera and monitoring audio are all new to me. For this project, I learned from scratch how to produce a video shoot, a process as challenging as it was fulfilling. Even though I scripted the questions, I improvised much of the interview and left the decision about narrative to the editing.

What are the most significant choices have you made recently?

I made a choice to let go. I started with a directorial instinct — for example, I pictured a portrait of Gilbert alone until I realized that the dynamics/equanimity of the couple was far more honest and important to what I wanted to show. I also scripted questions and planned certain scenes. However, once we were on site, I gave a lot of space to my subjects and the environment. In fact, they became inspirations for new directions that I did not come up with rather than mere subjects. The workflow resembled more the relationship between the director and the actors than that between a designer and the typography.

Another choice I made was to recruit help. At first I wanted to do everything on my own, but after talking to a mentor, I realized my inexperience in film production had given me a wrong estimation of the scope of the project. I ended up having someone monitor the audio, which proved to be more than worthwhile. What I am learning is that to make a moving image like this requires more than one person, and the communication and compromise that come with.

Is filmmaking something you want to continue pursuing?

I am not sure if I will continue making film at this point. It will become clearer to me after the editing. I don’t consider myself a filmmaker right now but I do feel something significant present. If the end result matches what I have envisioned, I might pursue this path further.