Re-Forming vision. On the governmentality of Griersonian documentary film

© 2015 Taylor & Francis. This essay traces and discusses John Grierson\u27s programme for documentary film and its projected function and operation within liberal democracy. It is argued that documentary film as envisioned and propagated by Grierson neither set out to advance \u27open\u27 and/or controversial public discourse \u27from an Enlightenment standpoint\u27 (Rosen, Philip. 2001. Change Mummified: Cinema, Historicity, Theory. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 249) nor to educate its popular audiences through the dissemination of facts. As such Griersonian documentary film should be less located within the pedagogical tradition of the Enlightenment and was not to mainly function as a \u27discourse of sobriety\u27 (Nichols, Bill. 1991. Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary. Bloomington: Indiana University Press). Rather, it was to insensibly shape subjectivities and agents by strategically arranging \u27visions of the real\u27. Documentary set out to model what Grierson termed \u27the subconscious\u27, the implicit framework that shaped citizen\u27s thoughts, desires, emotions and agency by which they governed their selves, others and by extension society at large into the future. Grierson\u27s documentary programme decisively governmentalised so-called non-fiction film as a specific technique of democratic government. It sought to render the formative and \u27creative\u27 aspects of its production transparent in favour of effect through affect by shaping appropriate visions for a reality yet to become. Thereby Grierson\u27s programme set out to strategically subjectify popular audiences/\u27ordinary citizens\u27 towards a desirable and \u27better\u27 national and global future

Listen to Nice

In describing Humphrey Jennings’ wartime documentary propaganda film, 'Listen to Britain' (1942), a film with an overtly poetic sensibility and dominantly musical soundtrack, John Corner asserts that ‘through listening to Britain, we are enabled to properly look at it'. This idea of sound leading our attention to the images has underpinned much of the collaborative work between composer and sound designer, Geoffrey Cox, and documentary filmmaker, Keith Marley. It is in this context that the article will analyse an extract of A Film About Nice (Marley and Cox 2010), a contemporary re-imagining of Jean Vigo’s silent documentary, 'A propos de Nice' (1930). Reference will be made throughout to the historical context, and the filmic and theoretical influences that have informed the way music and creative sound design have been used to place emphasis on hearing a place, as much as seeing it

Goldsmiths Electronic Music Studios: 40 Years

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Electronic Music Studios (EMS) at Goldsmiths, University of London. The 1968 studio placed Goldsmiths at the forefront of such developments in the UK university sector. 2008 also marks the launch of our EMS Research Group, which brings together a diverse range of interests and activities in computer music research, creative practice and music technology

In their own voice: the role of the Shape of the Australian Curriculum: The Arts paper writers in ensuring equitable access to quality Arts education in Australia

This paper examines the personal and professional experiences of the five arts leaders who co-wrote the foundation document for Australia’s first national curriculum in the Arts. Their personal and professional backgrounds, which were explored during in depth interviews, drove the complex collaborative process that informed the first iteration of the Australian Curriculum: The Arts. Though each couched their responses in the context of their background and arts discipline, they shared an awareness of the important role of the Arts in providing the analytical tools for children and young people to identify and subsequently challenge social injustice. The findings, which are presented as a group narrative using a Narrative Inquiry approach, reveal how the five arts leaders’ individual lived experience, disciplinary experience and expertise, and commitment to collaborative leadership informed their approach. It was one driven by their shared belief that all Australian students, regardless of their background, are entitled to a quality arts education