461 – t3

if i could take a photograph of my thinking about the 3rd trache how might it look ?

like this blog post as i aim to capture where i am today with it.

the background to the photo features the recent work i’ve done to complete a presentation as a video for the Mobile Innovation Network and Association [MINA] smart story telling symposium on november 15th.

i submitted shimmering place to the film festival mina hold every year and in response to the festival struggling to show non linear films on their screening day was invited to present about the project at the symposium the day before.

in considering and making the presentation it has helped me to connect with how and what i want to do with the third tranche.

in my thinking i’ve begun to shift from how the building was to how the building will be.  identifying threads of story i want to capture,  i’m feeling excited to begin the dialogues with members of staff about how i want to approach the project and what access to space and place i think i need.

i’ve visited the silk mill site this week – at the invitation of the museum trust’s site manager.  we spent an hour walking round.

here are a few of my highlights from the visit.

a leftover question from the last time the ground floor was taken back to a basic state during the remake stage.  there’s also a clue in the question to how new to the whole process  everyone was at this early stage.

i saw many things on the screen that eventually hung in front of this wall.

being in the ground floor space wasn’t too much of a jolt – the feel of the space is pretty much as it was when operational during the research phase.

there was a big surprise when entering the first floor space.

the elongated ‘ z ‘ in the cieling is the renmant of the front of the model railway frontage.  the windows on the right are newly exposed – there had been interpretation panels in front of them.  to the left is a doorway – here had been the model railway control area.   the barriers in the middle guard a hole.  there are currently lots of holes in the building as work has been carried out to determine the state of the 300+ year old building.

we continued.

in this picture there are some tapes around the buckton testing machine (on the right).  one of two large machines left on site the buckton was used to test things to due with the railway.  the photo being taken from what was the east midland railway study centre.  all the internal walls and dexian shelving long been removed to a temporary location.

with everything ( well nearly everything) taken out,  the size of the internal spaces throughout the mill took me by surprise.  by the time we arrived at the second floor – what was once the electricity board social club area – i was more prepared for what i was about to see.

as we walked we chatted and i got a sense for where the project was currently and what the next few stages of work are going to be.

i’m drawn to the area next to the museum that will be developed into the civic hall.  the drawings of it look wonderful and currently the space looks like a proper site about to be built on.

i was told this week that there are still details to be finalised and i got the impression that once this is done that a domino effect will take place for other aspects that need to be finalised.  this includes the confirmation or not of the next tranche of the non linear project to document the inside and progress of the transformation of the musuem of making.  i can add at this point that as this project continues its allowing me to develop and progress my practice.

i’ll leave you with an image of the front of the silk mill from march and secondly in july of 2018.

i’ve known for a while that at some point another tranche of the non linear project at derby silk mill will begin.  initial discussions are suggesting a realistic budget with good access to the building.  the when is dynamic.

last sunday while walking to join friends to relax and catch up in the sun an email notified me of an opportunity – deadline was in 2 days time.

a collaboration between york university and bbc research and development – it appeared to be within the sphere of non linear programming.

wether the sun got to me or the gin and tonic – i convinced myself i should have a go.

to help with my research i did some initial googling for inspiration for a title.  with great joy i found a blog post from 2015 by tony butler.  i got what i needed and proceeded to look through the criteria for submission.

the document was large and many things were being explored and invited to be presented.  through the google group i shared my decision to have a go and this was to prove beneficial later in the process.

since completing the submission i’ve taken time to watch a video from the re:make stage of the museum development.  i’ve watched it before.  from it i get a sense of time through how the building and people look within the video by owen davies.

monday was spent adding words in answer to everything i thought needed some sort of response.  tuesday began with contact from sue – the google group alerting her to this surprise submission.   with word of support proofing the draft i sat back down with determination to get something together.

to help me i did something i’ve not done before – i wrote down all that i thought there needed to be answers to  and used these scraps of paper to start to build a structure for my submission.

i looked at the pieces of paper – i saw a submission in non linear form.

with sue’s help i got the submission into 2 sides of a4 and sent it in with about 2 hours to spare before the deadline.

reflecting about the method i adopted to construct the submission – non linearly to begin with – it occurred to me, why have i not used this approach before ?  it might be that the criteria and information required was so wide and many that maybe in the past the submissions haven’t needed such handling.

my decision to use the non linear approach was good because i knew i was struggling to hold and visualise how to put the blocks of words i had together.

in my tired state afterwards i did get a little down about my disability with handling words – i wonder even after 10 years of knowing about it i’m still not fully in a state of acceptance about it.

knowing the submission needed to be in two sections i was able to assemble the non linear components into a structure that i felt would work.  i also get some interesting pictures of pieces of paper for my blog.

since submitting i’ve been more in a head space to consider the third tranche.  i’m closer to wanting more speaking from those involved.  the building will still feature – documenting how it evolves – i do feel that i want to capture people who are involved in the project in a manner that allows them to share about them and their involvement in the project.

how might we represent the people within the project through giving them space to tell us about about themselves and their relationship to the project ?

the third tranche also presents me with an opportunity to to push my my own practice.  there still remains the possibility of the third tranche being funded through the submission and it’ll be interesting to see how using the bbc’s experimental authoring tools the third tranche further evolves from where the second is.

in the event of an unsuccessful bbc / york bid – i will get to push myself with the platform i already know to create a third tranche.

little did i expect upon leaving the house on sunday to have done so much work on the third tranche  by thursday.

spring is in the air, the clocks have gone forward and there’s been some movement within the non linear project.  i’ve done some more filming and been able to present the work so far to the arts and heritage group at the mill.

going back into mill over the past few months has been exciting as each time the ground floor is packed with a new array of objects waiting to be decanted to the offsite stores.  i’m told there are 1000’s of objects, all have been wrapped and packed and moved, an incredible achievement in the time.

i love the idea of presenting projects and have dreamed for years of doing it more regularly.  past experiences involved spending weeks agonising of how to tell the storey and making appropriate slides to accompany the script i write for myself in my head.

when sue ball invited me to speak at the arts and heritage group, i took one step back and took time to consider what i would do in response.

gathering together the resources i had to illustrate and demonstrate the project so far i realised that the majority of them were browser based.  i thought “how might i use browser based resources in a presentation setting ?”

in preparing for previous presentations i have to admit to slightly tying myself in a knot as i try to remember what to say with each subsequent slide.

using the browser resources i saw the opportunity to talk about each one as we got to them.

i’d arrived at a non linear presentation method.

the group meets in the blue room of the silk mill.  its a lovely space and the number of the group works well in it.

through the google group this blog post will be shared with them and i take this moment to say hello to members of the group arriving here through the google group link.

i’ll add i really enjoyed sharing my journey with the nonlinear project and really appreciated the positive comments/feedback and ideas of how the project might evolve as the work towards the museum of making at derby silk mill progresses.

yesterday i was at the mill with my equipment and have been through the space with both stills and video cameras.

it took me a while to find the feel necessary to drive the recording.  in the east midlands railway research centre space i found the feeling.

the key was the window.  as the space evolves in the coming months and years the windows are going to remain.  i wonder if the frames are going to be updated ?

this morning i’ve collected all the files together.  looking at the rushes it strikes me how important the collections are and the amount of work put into keeping them safe during the works at the museum.

with the spaces empty i saw the amount of space available and had a small insight into the process of how that space is utilised for both the public and the collections once the museum of making is fully operational.

reflecting about yesterday i sense the shift/turning/movement/progress/progression – i struggle with the words to describe my observations of a process the staff are involved with.

after all the months of planning – its time … day by day … to move towards the museum of making at derby silk mill.

for the volunteers of the arts and heritage group i’ll add that whatever you feel towards the project at the moment that will evolve and alter as you get to know more those taking part.  making can be difficult at times  – thats why its so rewarding when you stand back at look at what you made / help to make.

i’m getting there – finishing this tranche.  thinking about submitting to doc fest has been a good thing, it’s pushed me into creating a linear trailer for the project.  i’ve spent time this afternoon editting and tweaking and i’ve ended with something i feel good about.

one small detail will feedback into the project – so i now have my tuesday morning work schedule tied down.

to be honest making a short linear trailer for the project with a link in the description makes so much sense.  would i have thought of it ? yes – eventually !

its certainly something to take forward into the third tranche.