fred: the dark side

This is a still from the 16mm. It shows Fred in silhouette. When it is watched in its native silent self it is quite an eery shot. What was Deacon's intention for this in the final film? Did he also detect Fred's darkside? Did he plan to include this part of Fred's nature in the original film? I can't think how else this shot may have been used. It certainly doesn't portray the loving, light-hearted Fred. Needless to say, I'm using it to talk about his dark side.

Let sleeping dogs lie?

Over the last 24 hours I've been thinking, is it really a good thing to be re-animating this 16mm film and therefore re-animating the Universal Brotherhood with all the positive and negative energies that comprise the community? Would it be best to let sleeping dogs lie and leave the UB in the past? Is that where it belongs?

What does it have to offer us here now in the 21st Century? From the story told in the ABC's Compass documentary it becomes apparent that perhaps there is nothing. The community was a negative experience for those people, it has nothing but pain and hurt to offer them in the 21st Century. But if I run with that it doesn't sit right for me. I have listened to around about 50 people talk about their experience with the UB and I have only heard negative perceptions from a handful and then, those same people also spoke of their positive experience as well.

As with every experience in this place there is a whole range of perceptions to be gained out of a single experience. I know and acknowledge that there was a darkness associated with Fred, with Centre core, with the UB experience but I guess it is my choice and the raison d'être of this film to shine the light on the gifts, the positive legacies that the UB offers us in 2010.

Thankfully, I didn't live in the UB and I have the freedom to make the choice to take this positive approach. Why the ABC would choose to tell the story they did is a mystery to me, I guess it had something to do with engaging the audience through the fail-safe method of dramatic intrigue. They interviewed many of the same people that I have spoken to and it is revealing that they chose to shine the light on the journey of those who didn't enjoy the experience. This would appear to be in direct conflict with the mantra of the community and Fred Robinson, 'we are not here to combat the negative, but we are here to establish the positive'. 'The Brotherhood' was very much a film about honing in and combatting the negative forces ... my film will, in line with the UB mantra, be made to establish the positive.

So, returning to my question. What does the UB have to offer us in the 21st Century? Well, first, as an example (biggest and best organised?) of that whole 'alternative' movement that was around at the time, the Universal Brotherhood is to be congratulated for influencing our (mainstream culture) focus on healthy living. They ran an organic farm, ate simple organic food, meditated, did yoga, jogging ... all of the healthy living qualities we value today in mainstream culture they were doing it 30 years ago. And in this way the community was a 100% successful, it was Fred's initial vision to 'create a heaven on earth for the children', to show the rest of the world how it could be done. It took us 30 years to tune in but look how much of UB life is now reflected in mainstream culture. Fred would be jumping with joy to see how many of us now are living his dream!

It would be easy to make a film that analysed and pulled out all of the mistakes the UB communards made. But why would I do that? What does that have to offer us in 2010? We should look at history, find what worked well and repeat those bits, not the bits we want to discard, leave behind, forget.

I'd like to introduce ...

... the star of the show ... Deacon Chapin's 16mm film from 1978 about the Universal Brotherhood. I have spent the best part of the last two days watching, logging and capturing 7 hours of film. It has been a 6 year wait to do that. Veeery satisfying that this door is finally opened and the film has revealed all of its treasures.

Quite a strange feeling preparing to work with someone else's film. Deacon shot this 32 years ago ... i was about 18 months of age!! Kind of strange, he, his wife at the time and soundman Rock Ross begun the work that I will now complete. Some very nice shots in there, especially with silhouettes/lighting. Much of it is in wide-shot where individuals aren't recognisable, this is good news as I'm not sure how many of these people would want to be recognisable or agree to be a part of this film. This is like playing with someone else's clay ... would they approve of how I shape it?

After being immersed in this film for the last two days I think my perspective on the Universal Brotherhood has altered or at least refined. From the rushes it becomes apparent that there were two distinct aspects - the spiritual and the physical. Fred, of course was all about the spiritual but all the people are very focussed on the physical aspects of the community - farming, raising children, living, apples, bee-keeping etc. The film shows how separate the two were yet at the same time how they were so in tune with each other. I guess that is what the community was doing - practicalising the spiritual ... as Fred would put it.

So, now where? I see that this 16mm film is a gold mine and creates an excellent visual foundation for the documentary so I'm going to start syncing ... attempting to ... sync up sound. Then once that's done I'll head back to the narrative structure work i was doing the other day.

sacred geometry as a structure for ideas

After using a mind-mapping tool yesterday I couldn't quite work out what was missing. It was the right tool for allowing me to get the ideas down on paper but essentially they're still in a linear format (parent connection/child connection). It wasn't until I was talking to a friend about it that it became apparent that there needs to be a non-linear structure to guide the ideas. His suggestion was to use circles, not just any old circles but concentric circles.

There's an ancient symbol called the 'Flower of Life' that dates back before ancient Egypt. It is considered along the same lines as the golden section, a universal pattern that can be observed at all levels of existence. Sacred geometry in general appears to be considered as a blueprint for all creation so I guess that also covers the creation of media!! I guess it is also the forerunner to fractals, they appear to have similar guiding principles. It exemplifies that all things are connected and interrelated and affecting each other.

I'm still playing with this idea but the preliminary thoughts are that each circle becomes an idea related to the documentary subject. So I put myself in the centre circle because I am at the centre of the film, exploring this subject. Then the next layer of circles around the centre become main themes or ideas or characters to be covered: fred, 16mm film, etc. Once all the circles are filled (randomly or is there logic to it?) they all link and overlap in several places, so the overlap becomes the connection between the two. Then all i do is work out what the overlap between those two circles could be and this is how it is presented in the film. For example, the circles of Fred, SC and spiritual philosophy overlap with each other. Then I think about what there is in the archive that represents this interconnection. There might be a photograph or a scene in the 16mm film or a newspaper archive.

This, I guess, will result in the film being a bit of a circular collage and will serve to show the interconnectedness of these surrounding themes, concepts, ideas. The picture above shows a first attempt at this. The outer ring is made up of the characteristics that are obvious at first sight, then the bits that have been significant for me, with me at the centre. Would be interesting to continue exploring this map with the golden ratio. Perhaps plotting that through this map would give me a narrative path to follow through these concepts?

Or am I just getting too abstract now?? :o/

Logging 16mm vision

time is irrelevant::: non-linear scriptwriting

So, who says a script has to be in courier font, size 12, double-spaced lines, single sided ... blah blah. How about a non-linear script?

I've begun trying to piece together some kind of structure for the artefact, documentary Caravans, Children & God. It seems that there are 4 paths going on here, 4 stories to tell and they do not sit nicely, chronologically in a story that is told from beginning to end. The first story begins in the late 1800s as Fred Robinson is born, then we skip forward 70 years to 1972 when the Brotherhood sets up camp in Carranya, 1978 the 16mm film is shot and then fast-forward 30 years to when I pick up the baton and run with it for 6 years.

Time is an irrelevant concept to this documentary. This kind of chronological randomness begs for a non-linear approach to scripting. Hot on my mind at the moment is mind-mapping and I'm using a mind-mapping tool to record all of the events, facts and figures, archive material etc that will be the ingredients of the film. Stir it up (the random nature of the visual representation of these ideas does a nice job of stirring), find a solid structure (narrative?) - not one based on time but maybe one based on themes? ideas? There still needs to be a' cause and effect' drive to guide the thing. It still needs to take the audience on a journey, an emotionally engaging/immersive journey.

But one of the cornerstones of the narrative journey is time! How can events unfold over time if time is not considered. Well, there's two types of time going on. Firstly there's the historical timing of these events and secondly there's the running time of the linear documentary. And I guess what I'm getting at here is that there obviously will be a running time for the linear documentary. It will take ...mins to watch. BUT, the storyworld/ historical time is not a key factor here. I can find other ways to link events, other than 'this happened, then that caused this to happen etc ...'

It is almost as if the 3 main paths: the UB, Fred and the 16mm film were all happening concurrently and me, as the thread that links them all together is jumping from one path to the next making connections based, not on time, but on my own thoughts/ideas. After all this film is a collage of the archive material which is based in the 'now' moment. The archive material is happening right now and i am actually able to jump from one path to the other irrespective of time.

So, historical time is not a concept that needs to be explored in this documentary. Just as in interactive documentary 'I' (the user or in this case, me as the filmmaker) become the cause and effect that drives the journey. In the linear component of this cross-platform documentary I am exploring the archives and the thoughts and ideas that come to mind as I do so are the links that tie the story together.