Process and Development
This is the Process & Development on the final artefact, memory. In this section, I will describe the Process & Development that took place before producing the artefact.
My encounter with the theme ‘Memory’ began in March 2010 in Coventry. I was part of a team from Coventry University, which was planning to produce a short film at the War Memorial Park in Coventry. The Park was built in 1921 to praise the soldiers from the city, who lost their lives through the First World War. In the Second World War, anti-aircraft gun and barrage balloons were put in the park, and currently people visit and see the large real blocks at the coat of arms area of the park (Jadu, 2011).
My second exposure to a war memorial was in April 2010 as part of my professional experience at Coventry University. As part of this professional experience we travelled to New York city. I then went to Washington and visited the World War II Memorial Park. It was opened to the public in 2004, and it is located on 17th Street, between Constitution and Independence Avenues ( WWII Memorial 2005).
My third exposure to ‘memory & war memorials’ was when I moved to Stafford. The city has a small war memorial. I often walk past the Staffordshire County War Memorial in Stafford Park on Station Road, opposite the train station on my way to the University. Around this war memorial, there are few plaques and Regimental emblems. The face of memorial is inscriped with the following words: To the officers and men of Staffordshire units and all other Staffordshire men who gave their lives for their country in The Great War 1914 -1918. Their rest shall be glorious (The Potteries Museum).
On the other hand, in the lecture, we went through various areas of the theme ’memory’ including history and memory, general memories like photo memory, personal memories etc. The lectures developed my thinking broadly around the subject in different areas.
I have watched different films about memories including:
- In the lectures Peter Woodbridge showed us a YouTube clip called Britain in a Day. It is an extraordinary project to produce the definitive self-portrait of Britain today, which was filmed by people, motivated by Life in a Day film (BBC, 2011). I wished to do a clip similar to this but I could not find people who were willing to contribute. So I left this idea.
- The Memory Thief is a drama, American independent DV film, from 2007, which was directed by Gil Kofman. The features are Rachel Miner and Mark Webber in leading roles. The film story is about the experience of a young man who becomes involved in recording the survivor of the Holocaust (Jeanette 2008).
- The second film is the National Memorial Arboretum; it is made up of still footages with background music showing the whole memorial park.
The last film had influenced me and got me thinking about the people who have lost their lives in wars. I had never been the National Memorial Arboretum before. So I was more interested in it and I decided to do more research on it and also to create a video artefact. It was a great coincidence that as I was preparing to do more research, I noticed that the date was 10th November. I realised that there would be a Remembrance day event soon so I set out to develop an artefact about the Remembrance Day on 13th November 2011.
REFERENCES:
Jadu. (2011). History of War Memorial Park. Available: http://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/2000674/war_memorial_park/697/history_of_war_
memorial_park. Last accessed 25th Nov 2011.
WWII Memorial. (2005). Visiting the Memorial . Available: http://www.wwiimemorial.com/. Last accessed 25th Nov 2011.
The Potteries Museum. (). Stafford. Available: http://www.exploringthepotteries.org.uk/nof_website1/local_history_static_exhibitions/war_memorials/pages/stafford.htm. Last accessed 15th Nov 2011.
Jeannette, C. (2008). The Memory Thief (2008). Available: http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/movies/09memo.html. Last accessed 15th Nov 2011.The World War II Memorial
BBC. (2011). The definitive self-portrait of Britain today. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00kqz5p. Last accessed 15th Nov 2011.
Abdiaziz E Yusuf
Media Production
Level 3
