This documentary film acts as a platform for creative interaction or interactive creation, with the open sourced audiovisual content gathered by the protagonists themselves. The basic idea is to organize in every school we visit, a small workshop about documentary filmmaking and let afterwards the children (and teachers if they agree)  to make the piece that will be included in the final film. In this way they will become partakers in a collaborative project with all known benefits, helping us at the same time integrate the concept of democracy on the face of the film, in short an attempt to establish a format that coherently follows the content.

 

Filming style
The particular techniques applied, dictate the overall style of the film.There is nothing predetermined, in the sense that we let each action be effortlessly unfold in front of the camera lens. We follow the spontaneous expression of individual "actors" and give them the opportunity to join the filmimg process.

 

Regarding the child girl protagonist we follow, we avoid interfering in the natural flow of her expression, thus taking advantage of the dynamic spontaneity offered to us. We try to incorporate into the body of the film, elements of each alter ego adopted by her , in the form of a different persona she freely chooses in each location. This is a feature that emerged during role play combined with media literacy workshop and evolved into a proposed subjective view that extends the recording field of reality through the prism of a new, every time, original studied live performance in front of the camera lens.

Another feature of the technique and the resulting style, dictated by the very particular subject matter of the film is the catalysis of the dividing lines between the "director" and the "actors" by a kind gesture of offering the field of expression to the protagonists themselves, through the opportunity to contribute creatively to the completion of the film, in a way that takes into account the specificity of each case and in line with the issue of the very democratic principles.Thus, based on the specific needs of each school to participate in this "open source" documentary that is both an educational platform for communication and a means of free expression, all participants are given the opporunity to become protagonists in the cocreation process and contribute by a self-made video.

 

"My method of filming is unobtrusive as possible in a given environmnent in a manner that does not attract special attention and as far as young people are concerned I am particularly careful to portray them as close to their reality as they themselves wish to expose. I do not do formal interviews , instead I try to mingle with the environment by giving the people arpund me the chance to get acquainted with the fact that someone is present with a video recording camera. This, I like to do by offering the kids (and adults as well) a short hands-on documentary workshop, where they can freely express their motivation by interacting with each other and the environment they share. I strive to have a honest relationship with the people in front of the camera as this is reflected in the final film. This is not a kind of reportage style filming but more intimate and direct. For legal reasons I will need a signed clearance form giving me the licence to use the recorded material for creative purposes only"  

 

Evangelos Vlachakis, cinematographer/media facilitator