BACK TO OFFICIAL PROJECTS
After working with Joe on Contempt of Conscience, I teamed up with him again on this education DVD project. Aimed at Sixth Form students studying Theology, the DVD examines the various philosophies and theologians at the heart of the topic of Sexual Ethics.
From Natural Law to Utilitarianism, from Bentham to Kant, the DVD is divided into a series of short films which combine a variety of public domain stock footage, group discussion & debates, observational documentary and reconstruction/creative topic interpretations.
I acted as both cameraman and sole editor on this ultimately quite extensive project, on which I was able to pick up a few lessons of my own in terms of creating an educational film, how best to work with students in group discussion & debate, as well as how to further communicate ideas in as interesting a way as possible.
Joe and myself did not want to create the sort of educational film we (or at least I) remembered from school. Indeed you have to get the information across clearly and concisely, but generally my experience of such films has been either indifference or total boredom.
As a result, we sought to mix things up a little, hence the inclusion of group discussion & debate (which helps get the students watching the DVD going for their own in class discussions), creative topic illustrations (as pictured, covering issues such as pornography, abuse and contraception) and the use of public domain footage.
In concern to the latter, the Internet Archive proved a valuable source of public domain sex education films from the past, as well as other PD films which provided footage we could 'recontextualise' when illustrating examples of the philosophies being discussed through scenarios. It was also an opportunity to have a little fun with some of the footage, to illuminate how far society has come in terms of sexual discussion and development, as well as provide some background history when necessary.
The usual 'insert part A into part B' sexual education film this is not, instead this film examines the mental and emotional theological issues attached to sex.
In the shots to the right, the first two are from a scene I created to illustrate the issue of child abuse - through a mixture of twitchy camerawork, dark & cold colouring, and a dual layer composite, I was able to create a scene that was disturbing without showing anything actually disturbing, as well as something interesting from a filmmaking stand point.
The third image is from a sequence about the porn industry, during the voice over at one point online porn is quoted as being the 'crack cocaine' of the internet, so I did a dual-layer composite that mixed footage I shot, with a public domain information film about drug abuse.
The fourth shot is from a sequence I put together to demonstrate condom use (Durex kindly agreed to be involved in the project), and the final image is part of a segment relating to one of the philosophies being discussed.
