Composing Histories:A filmic exploration of biography via an analysis of 'the interview' with specific reference to Northern Irish history 1956-60.
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Greenwich
Department Name: Humanities and Social Sciences
Abstract
'The interview' as filmed phenomenon has been a significant and recurring motif in the presentation of Northern Irish History: interview as oxygen of publicity, interview as means of representing anonymous informant, interview as confession, interview as testimony and interview as means of not saying anything.
In the light of this history, how does an artist's filmic analysis of a particular interview articulate personal and political biography?
With the under-representation of Internment without trial in Northern Irish history, in film and written publications, Composing Histories seeks to explore how the convention of the filmed interview is disseminated as a single screen image. The intention of the project is to explore the range of ways single screen (produced for the cinema or TV) and multi screen works (produced for the gallery) respectively, can interrogate the illusionistic conventions of 'the interview' and thereby the production of biographic and political knowledge. It will deal with one specific biography, that of civil rights activist and former internee, PJ McClean.
Fifty years ago, PJ McClean, was arrested under the Special Powers Act and detained without trial for four years in Crumlin Road Prison, Belfast. During his incarceration he was 'interviewed' and cross-examined by representatives of the state regarding his involvement with a non-violent, socialist movement. Because he would not sign a document to say that he belonged to this 'banned' organization he served four years without ever going to trail. He was one of around 240 men interned at that time for many different reasons. Most of them are now very old or have passed away. This is the historical context for the series of filmed interviews I will undertake in Composing Histories.
Composing Histories will use a practice based approach in order to explore visual, spatial and temporal techniques of 'the interview' both as research method and as thematic under-pinning of the film. It will employ traditional emperical interview research methods in combination with those used in oral history and art practice. Composing Histories will address the need for an analysis into the importance of 'the interview' as a means of making and constructing histories.
The film will document the filming of an interview between Fergal Keane, political journalist and PJ McClean from the view point of an onlooker, a daughter, an evesdropper. Does the formal interview recorded by the journalist and crew have more validity than the informal one recorded by the daughter?
Can the use of conventions employed in experimental films produce an expanded study of a subjective portrayal of a political individual? Composing Histories proposes to present a significant contribution to knowledge in so far as it provides a record/account of a certain under-represented period of Northern Irish history while investigating where family history and media technologies collide and the private becomes public.
The first output will be a feature length documentary constructed using the interview footage recorded privately with the footage shot formally in the studio. It will inter-cut news footage from TV at that time to set the context. It is anticipated that the film will be screened at International Film Festivals in 2007-08.The second outcome from the research will be a multi-screened presentation made for a gallery, (to be premiered at The Void Gallery, Derry City, N. Ireland) and finally a co-written academic essay will use the gathered material to produce an academic essay for publication.
In the light of this history, how does an artist's filmic analysis of a particular interview articulate personal and political biography?
With the under-representation of Internment without trial in Northern Irish history, in film and written publications, Composing Histories seeks to explore how the convention of the filmed interview is disseminated as a single screen image. The intention of the project is to explore the range of ways single screen (produced for the cinema or TV) and multi screen works (produced for the gallery) respectively, can interrogate the illusionistic conventions of 'the interview' and thereby the production of biographic and political knowledge. It will deal with one specific biography, that of civil rights activist and former internee, PJ McClean.
Fifty years ago, PJ McClean, was arrested under the Special Powers Act and detained without trial for four years in Crumlin Road Prison, Belfast. During his incarceration he was 'interviewed' and cross-examined by representatives of the state regarding his involvement with a non-violent, socialist movement. Because he would not sign a document to say that he belonged to this 'banned' organization he served four years without ever going to trail. He was one of around 240 men interned at that time for many different reasons. Most of them are now very old or have passed away. This is the historical context for the series of filmed interviews I will undertake in Composing Histories.
Composing Histories will use a practice based approach in order to explore visual, spatial and temporal techniques of 'the interview' both as research method and as thematic under-pinning of the film. It will employ traditional emperical interview research methods in combination with those used in oral history and art practice. Composing Histories will address the need for an analysis into the importance of 'the interview' as a means of making and constructing histories.
The film will document the filming of an interview between Fergal Keane, political journalist and PJ McClean from the view point of an onlooker, a daughter, an evesdropper. Does the formal interview recorded by the journalist and crew have more validity than the informal one recorded by the daughter?
Can the use of conventions employed in experimental films produce an expanded study of a subjective portrayal of a political individual? Composing Histories proposes to present a significant contribution to knowledge in so far as it provides a record/account of a certain under-represented period of Northern Irish history while investigating where family history and media technologies collide and the private becomes public.
The first output will be a feature length documentary constructed using the interview footage recorded privately with the footage shot formally in the studio. It will inter-cut news footage from TV at that time to set the context. It is anticipated that the film will be screened at International Film Festivals in 2007-08.The second outcome from the research will be a multi-screened presentation made for a gallery, (to be premiered at The Void Gallery, Derry City, N. Ireland) and finally a co-written academic essay will use the gathered material to produce an academic essay for publication.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Mairead McClean (Principal Investigator) |