revue

okay so ive finished the film now, i just have to collate all my research into a presentable format for handing in and finish off some sketchbook work and do my evaluation. i got some photos developed from my time at the centre:

1 film down

i finished editing David, as its now called. its about 11 minutes long, which is pretty much as long as it can be, but i dont feel it drags on, im really happy with the way the film illustrates a way of life very much outside your average viewer's experience. also, it was important to me, after meeting many friendly and interesting homeless people at the 999 club, to show that rough sleepers are approachable people and dont deserve the stigma they usually get.

however i started to edit the other film, and it soon became clear that i was setting my sights too high, in terms of cutting 6 or so different half hour interviews down to 5 minutes. Also with many of the interviews spanning different topics, the message of the documentary was lost. i was trying to tell a story about the 999 club but at the same time didnt want to lose all of the interesting life stories the various users of the centre had told me. so i was advised to just concentrate on perfecting David. i also think that had i continued with this second film, if it had been as bad as it was starting to look then it may have had a detrimental effect on the first.

superdave

david is such an interesting guy and ive got hours of really great footage of him. on wednesday, after the club closed i followed dave as he walked from deptford up to point hill where he sleeps. its a walk that he claims to have done just over 700 times. when we reached his bench he showed me how he sets up his bed for the night and then we chatted for some time about various things from the establishment to families. you come to realise that he is a happy man living how he does, and its a choice he's made. he has a very simple life and doesnt need anything more than what he's got. i learned that he gets up in the morning and cleans up rubbish around blackheath tea hut, and in return he gets a cooked breakfast and a fiver. then he spends the day at the 999 club where he can get anything he needs to eat or drink and in the evening if he needs another drink the tea hut are very generous. unlike a lot of homeless people he doesnt drink alcohol, he spends the little money he does have on cannabis, which he claims keeps him sane, which i highly doubt, but as long as he's happy...

i think this films gonna turn out really good.

aaaaand cut.

so im filming. well pretty much finished now, ive done all the interviews and ive organised to film dave tomorrow evening. the interviews all went fantastically well, in that i had a whole list of questions written out but after asking the first question most people would talk so much without much prompting that i wouldnt have anything left to ask them by the time they had finished. i even managed to get some people talking on sensitive subjects such as past relationships and drug addiction. the only problem with the interviews was the sound quality; i didnt use a microphone so far too much background noise was picked up by the camera and a couple of the interviews were so bad that the actual conversations were drowned out. hopefully ill be able to play around with the audio when it comes to edit the films

films

i now have a rough outline of what to film. the idea is to make two 5-10minute films, the first would be a series of talking head style interviews with staff and users of the 999 club, talking about what the centre does and why they use it. the second will focus on a user of the centre, dave, who i find particularly interesting, and he has agreed to show me where he sleeps and how he goes about his life. i feel it is important here for me to remember there is a fine line between being insightful and intrusive. i hope to start filming next week.

999

right so ive been at the homeless centre for about a week now. ive been keeping a journal of all my observations of the centre and the people i come across. i feel this will help me to draw conclusions of what to film in a few weeks time, but at the moment im still looking for ideas. im contemplating making 4 or 5 very short films which illustrate the key elements which make the centre so fascinating.

result!

as expected, no reply from the passage today. so i gave it a few hours and then forwarded the email to another centre and within half an hour had a positive response. hurrah!

here's the correspondance:

Hi there,
I'm an art student studying foundation graphics at Camberwell College Of Art in South London. I'm currently researching and preparing for a final self-directed project which is assessed for the whole course's grade. After much research into current social issues I have decided to produce a series of short documentary films which as a collection give an insight into the lives of london's rough sleepers and homeless. By doing this I hope to make the audience take note of the issue of homelessness and pay much more respect to the unfortunate people who experience it. I am writing to you because after speaking to a number of homeless people on the streets of London, they recommended I try the 999 club because it offers the opportunity to speak to lots of homeless people in a friendly environment. I'd like to know about the possibility of getting your consent to meet and talk to people at the day centre for a number of weeks, with a view to asking some if I could make films about them. I understand that a degree of sensitivity and tact is needed when approaching this issue and I would never knowingly offend or upset any of your visitors.
I am grateful you have taken the time to read this, and I look forward to your response,
Yours sincerely,
Elliot Hay

Dear Elliot,
Thank you for your email, very interesting.
Here's the deal, come and see us. Send me a time when you can call byMon-Fri 10-5. We'll meet, see if you can fit in, probably can; but wesometimes have a disaster with that. Then you are very welcome.
What we would like in return is to be able to use some of your images inour own publicity.
Yours ever R

R,
It's so great to hear back from you, I've emailed a few day centres so far and you're the first to actually take the time to reply! This is really good news, I live in Charlton so I can come by any day, any time. I have 4 weeks left to get this done, so the sooner the better, I could even set off right now if convenient. If not, then tomorrow morning or afternoon, whichever is best for you. It would actually be an incredible privilege if you were to use my work for your own publicity, and I would be happy to work through some sort of compromise with you so we can produce something mutually beneficial.
Thanks again for replying,
Yours sincerely,
Elliot

Dear Elliot
Come at 10am tomorrow morning. We can all be paying attention at that point. There is a slight danger you may have to stick around I can see we are seeing Medicins du Monde tomorrow but I am unclear at what timethat is.
We are at SE... but you have probably already located us.
See you then , R

so yeah, i'm gonna head over to the centre tomorrow and pitch my ideas to the guys there and if all goes well i should be visiting the centre every day for the next few weeks. its actually great that these guys replied too, its the 999 Club, and they have three centres all within close proximity to where i live. and they also have close links with goldsmiths students so theres a chance i could be able to get chatting to some of them and see what they think about my concept.

newfound interest//zines

zineswap have an exhibition of their collection on at the gallery above the amersham arms on at the moment. ending iminently though, so that might be another plan for tomorrow. i like the look of this happy birthday series (apologies for the sidewaysness)


also, im about to send through a payment for this zine i stumbled across, n.c.m.c. or nobody calls me chicken. looks just like a nice little collection of photographs and for the price of a couple of postage stamps you cant go wrong.


its blogged here. once this final major project shindig's over with im gonna start a recurring zine. im sure the suspense is killing you already.

shot down.

i summoned up the courage the call the passage homeless centre this morning. but who'd have thought it, they actually have a waiting list for volunteers and i might have to wait 'til the summer. bugger. fear not though, because i sent an email to the director of the centre, something along the lines of this:

hello captain fantastic im a wanky art student and i want to take advantage of the destitute so i can get onto a degree course next year. hit me back y'all. *

should get a reply tomorrow.
read an interesting article on the guardian website today, apparently theres some sort of cult out there which sees it as enlightening to spend 3 days in the lives of the homeless, queuing at soup kitchens, receiving blankets and even begging. morally questionable fo sho. i have to admit i did consider this approach, spending a night sleeping rough to get a better idea of how it feels but i think this snippet of the article sums up every reason why i shouldnt;

'You must be bonkers,' said Peter, a middle-aged, well-educated former IT specialist who lost his job and then his house after suffering a nervous breakdown. 'I don't see the point of you doing this on any level,' he said with politely contained rage. 'What are you going to learn that you don't know already - that's it's horrible being homeless?' His friend asked why we have come in summer. 'If you really care about sharing our pain,' he pointed out mockingly, 'why didn't you come in the middle of winter?'

however, it did shed some light on something ive already read about; the distribution of food and other aids for the homeless at lincoln's inn fields. and after some brief research i now know that its every day at 7.15pm so i think im going to go there tomorrow. do a little drawing. take a few snaps. would be good to have some imagery to work with because at the moment i havent actually done any work.

stay tuned.

* this is obviously not the email i sent but i do realise that however i word a letter, its probably going to come across that way, cos essentially its true. i will be taking advantage of the homeless, but then again any film made about poverty etc will do so. i wonder if this is necessarily a bad thing?

docs.

yesterday i watched another documentary, Penny Woolcock's The Wet House, watch it, it's fascinating.


its an observational film about a hostel for the homeless which respects the inmates' right to drink alcohol, and lots of it. at first, its alarming to see the state of some of the inmates, shouting and fighting, stumbling across the screen and generally being an unruly bunch of drunks. but their behaviour is only a result of the position they've been landed in. as the film goes on we begin to get an interesting insight into some of the inmates' personalities and backstories, but what strikes you by the climax of the film is the relationship shared by the inmates. drawn together by their lives on the street, they now very much rely on eachother's company. as you'll see in a touching moment at the end, despite the hostel being able to rehabilitate its inmates back into independent housing, the wet house is their lives now and it appears many would be happy to live out the rest of their days there. i very much admire woolcock for her tact and sensitivity in dealing with the subject matter, and she has managed to make a truly insightul film, without ever being intrusive.

having watched two inspiring films now, i feel that my work would be very appropriate in documentary/film format. penny woolcock visited the hostel for 3 months without any cameras in order to befriend and gain the trust of the inmates, however i only have 4 weeks, so its going to be tough.

i got chatting to a homeless guy the other night about this issue, and he seemed to think many people are quite open about their lives and always have interesting stories to tell. he recommended i visit a place called the passage in victoria, so i think i'm going to volunteer to work there. starting tomorrow!