Modern Girl: The Film
Final film process: Sep 2021 - June 2022
This project began in Stage Two; I ended that academic year with a trailer as my final outcome. Below is a brief overview of my research and process during that time, and the trailer - this gave me a strong foundation to expand the project during Stage Three (also see below), in which I included others into the narrative and worked on a stronger emotive message for the film.
Stage Two: an overview
Trailer:
Stage Three
Starting point:
Carrying on from my work on the trailer, my goal for Stage Three was to expand it into a documentary. The themes were to remain the same: generations within families, working class communities, archive footage, beauty standards for women, female emancipation; I wanted to explore building on the narrative of Mum’s colour shows based around these themes, using Mum’s perspective and experiences to build from. I began with looking at my existing research knowledge, and also enquiring into other filmmakers who’s work I feel reflected what I was aiming to achieve in my own work.
Research and influences
Still from footage of colour show, 1992
Main influence: Mum’s Colour Shows
The footage of the colour shows can be seen in the trailer, and it was the main inspiration for the film - it was footage from my childhood ( I was seven at the time) which I had not seen until my mid-thirties, and so I was fascinated by this time capsule that I had unlocked. I wanted to ask Mum all about it - what does she remember? Does she still look at people through the lens of wearing certain colours? She had trained as a colour consultant for Colour Me Beautiful in the early nineties during a break from teaching, and as a result brought a community together to create a fashion show of sorts, to demonstrate which colours suited people. This idea of bringing people together, especially in a working class Midlands town in the 1990s, reflects in my own practice as a burlesque artist - the cabaret world is heavily community based, and demonstrates women supporting women, much like Mum’s shows.
Images from Colour Show (1992)
Images from Colour Show (1992)
Images from Colour Show (1992)
Other influences and research:
David Byrne, Here Lies Love (2010) Themes of interest: women's beauty standards, competition within women's appearance
Andrea Luka Zimmermann, Estate, A Reverie (2015) Themes of interest: community, class system
Vicki Thornton, (N)OSTALGIA, film still (photo Yarema Malashchuk) Themes of interest: working class, community
Louise Ashcroft, Argos Counterculture (2017) Themes of interest: working class culture, nostalgia
Chuck Lowry, I'll Be Your Mirror (2017) Themes of interest: mother/daughter relationship, finding oneself in a parent, womanhood
Jeremy Deller, The Battle of Orgreave (2001) Themes of interest: working class, point in time, community
Project Development and Pre-Production
Expanding the narrative: mind mapping ideas
By looking at my references above, I began to consider how I might expand the project - how do I bring in a sense of community, similar to Andrea Zimmermann’s Estate, A Reverie or Vicki Thornton’s (N)ostalgia? Of family, and the relationships between Mum, my sister and I, much like Chuck Lowry’s I’ll Be Your Mirror? How does colour and the colour shows bring us together as a family? I planned to start with the women who had been in the colour shows for Mum back in the 90s; between us we planned who would be contactable and happy to be involved - I wanted to know about their experiences and what it meant for them. Would beauty standards of the 1990s be a prominent theme in their conversations, or would it be more about being part of a working class community? Like Jeremy Deller’s Battle of Orgreave, would I end up re-enacting a piece of working class history?
Building a narrative: planning interviews
Mum and I contacted the list of women we had created, and I started to plan in a trip to Stafford for interviews. I wrote questions which I hoped would loosely drive the narrative - I had been using Michael Rabiger’s book Directing The Documentary (1987) during this whole project, and absorbed his advice on writing interview questions:
“Good interviewing comes from really listening - to what people mean as well as to what they say or don’t say. Work intuatively in the moment, dig deeply, and always ask for stories and examples.” p.466
From my studying of composing interview questions, I intended to start out with factual questions to gain information, then go onto stories and examples, and finally into more emotional based questions. I also knew to bear in mind that interviewees may wander off topic, which could either be good or bad - I planned to let them know before starting filming I may be quite silent in between questions to allow for these moments, and for moments of silence to evoke emotion.
Bill Nichols’ types of documentary
I had previously considered what type of documentary I wanted this work to be when making the trailer, but I felt it necessary at this point to readdress this. It seemed to be part participatory and part performative; it was about me as the filmmaker and my relationships with the subject and capturing those moments, but also about leveraging these relationships to reflect upon bigger themes.
Production
Barbara Cashmore, one of the interviewees
Sally-Anne & Jackie
Stafford Market Square
Filming: a trip to Stafford
I filmed bits of the town as B-roll (helpful to use when making cuts), and explored. I explored people’s responses to questions, their relationship with me, their relationship to Stafford. I did the same set up for each interview: checked for natural light, found a nice spot with a good background, checked my levels, had a good chat before starting filming. It took a couple of days, and I gave myself time to absorb the interviews, gather any B-roll of the interviewee’s homes/lives, and just to wait and see what else I might want to film that might be relevant.
Reflection of the trip:
There were alot of learning curves involved in this trip; although I had interviewed Mum previously for the trailer, this was my first time interviewing people besides Mum in their homes. Lots of things happened that I now know how to deal with: I forgot to check the mic lead for one interview, and ended up with zero sound; there was a surprise guest for filming with another interviewee, so I had to not use a mic (upon reflection I could have placed it somewhere in between the two); some people didn’t like to be in front of the camera, especially with the lights on them. I learnt to listen. I would go back to the hotel, and reassess for the next interview. Taking my time and not rushing setting up meant I got the shot right. I learnt to bounce off people during interviews, guiding them loosely - I gradually found a way of trying to keep the emotion in their answers, keeping people relaxed and calm - I ended up compromising with some setups, such as only using natural light and allowing interviewees to keep the electric fire on (unwanted sound), otherwise anything else threw them off and made them feel uneasy. These things I later fixed as much as I could in post - a compromise I was willing to make in order to capture the most authentic versions of these people.
Questions I wanted to explore in the narrative of the film
Research development and change of narrative
Moment of reflection: finding the purpose of making this film and realising a new narrative/extended narrative
Originally this film was about women’s beauty standards in the 80s/90s, and how Mum used the colour shows to bring a working class community together; it was looking back in time through her lens. However after interviewing everyone, I discovered that Mum was the main person who kept an entire community of people (not just women) together through many different ways, such as her teaching, community choirs, theatre groups and music tours; the lens had expanded to include other’s perspectives. This was made evident by the interviewees talking off camera about how big an influence Mum has been on their lives, as a teacher, community leader and friend.
I had the opportunity at this point to delve deeper into Mum’s work within the community. I realised that the narrative of the film had become more than just about the colour show, so I planned another trip back to Stafford to film the same interviewees again, but with this new narrative in mind - finding empowerment through community. I also planned a trip to Yorkshire to film Mum and my sister, Hannah, using the second Stafford interviewees answers to generate the right questions for my family filming in Yorkshire.
There was a moment of self-reflection at this point as well, as I wanted to create this film in an honest way, in line with my practice values. How does making this film help develop my own artistic identity? I am my mother’s daughter - how do I see myself in her as an artist? I hoped the answers I got from my interview with Mum and my sister would provide more clarity on my artistic voice that I wished to show throughout the film.
Hellifield Singers choir rehearsal
Re-filming in Stafford and Yorkshire:
Planning a second trip to Stafford a week later enabled me to re-do the interviews, then I headed up to Yorkshire to film Mum and my sister. Fortunately, Mum was holding a choir rehearsal with the village during my trip, so I went to film them - this gave me an opportunity to gather some great B-roll footage.
For all of my interviews and footage involving people, I asked all participants to fill out a consent form.
Some images from my trip to Yorkshire:
Watching a performance in the local village hall - BYOB
Generations within the family: my sister, niece Marigold, Mum, me & niece Blossom
Watching a performance in the local village hall - BYOB
Post-production
Rough initial timeline idea
Rabiger’s dramatic curve
Michael Rabiger: the dramatic curve
Now I had all of my footage, a narrative and themes, I needed to create a timeline for the film. I looked at Rabiger’s dramatic curve theory as a tool to begin forming the journey of the film. I planned to split the film into sections, which could then be merged better together during the editing process - info, stories, emotion, end point.
I intended to create two parallel stories: community and beauty/colour. This then gave space for my themes of feminism, family/generations, community and creativity.
Editing Process
The editing process took a long time, due to many things - technically I was not very experienced in Premiere Pro, so it took me a while to learn how to do various things, especially audio fixing and colour grading; I know that moving forward I will become quicker at these things, as I gain more experience. The hardest part of the editing was finding the ending; as I had not followed a strict script during filming due to allowing the interviews to lead the narrative, I had freedom at this point to create a strong ending (I had realised during making this project that editing allows me to become a storyteller - I can edit footage in any way I need in order to tell a story). I wanted to bring it round to my sister and my nieces, and colour, and also me; as if the audience is being taken on a journey throughout time and generations within the family. I considered bringing it back to the colour show footage, but decided against it as this would be jarring to the flow of time, from the nineties to now - I wanted to leave the end with the hope for the futures of my nieces, Blossom and Marigold.
Editing and re-editing to evoke emotion
Creating a new timeline for every editing session
Colour correcting
Family photo - Mum & Granny
Family photo - Tom (brother), Hannah (sister), Mum and me
Photo of Mum's school orchestra (early 2000s)
Synopsis
The film tells the story of the filmmaker’s mother, a 74 year old woman who was born in the Dales, moved to Stafford to become a teacher in the 1970s, and back to the Dales during her retirement. Her passion for female emancipation is clear through her experiences of putting on shows as extra activities, both inside and outside of her teaching job. Both her and the women who took part in her “colour shows” in the early 1990s talk of how their experiences within the trend of having one’s colours done, being a part of a community show and supporting other women have inspired them to truly be themselves, and how she has passed it onto her daughters.
Director’s Statement
This was my first passion project in film - I wanted to find my creative identity by looking at my own family and our story. I knew Mum's career was showing me a path but I could never work it out, until I made this film. It is how she creates community through her creativity and passion that I now also see in myself, and I hope to have a positive impact on other's lives the way she has done. I hope this film shows the admiration I have for my mother, and how important community is.
Final Film
Final reflection
I poured my heart into this project, which I had been working on for over a year. It has been a journey of self-discovery of myself as an artist; by exploring my family’s thread of female emancipation, I feel my own practice and artistic identity has been allowed to evolve and develop - I wanted to tell my family’s story in order to find my most honest artistic voice. I first thought this film was about one thing, the colour shows, but it turned into so much more - it showed how Mum holds communities together through her work, by empowering others. I feel the film reflects the themes that are predominant throughout my practice: community, the working classes, femininism, and celebrating others.
Also, we are planning a film screening! Mum and I will be showing the film in Stafford in Autumn 2022 , in the village hall where Seighford Singers used to perform - anyone who featured in the film will be invited. It was an idea of mine; I felt it will enhance the community thread running throughout this project, as well as celebrating the individuals who took part. I strongly believe in the values of supporting others, building a sense of community and advocating women’s creativity and creative freedom, and I hope this project and my practice reflects this.