Abstract

In this interactive documentary workshop participants explored new opportunities for participation, collaboration and the potential democratisation of documentary production. Utilising mobile device cameras, the participants produced a collaborative, participatory, experimental documentary project centred on 24-hours in Tampere. With reference to Dziga Vertov’s 1929 documentary film ‘Man with a Movie Camera’, we will aim to document the city of Tampere, the people that live there and their daily lives in a 24-hour period. Participants were encouraged to embrace Vertov’s pioneering avant-garde approach to filmmaking, utilising cameraphones and mobile devices to capture “life caught unawares”. Moving beyond the user-generated content model, the project will build up a database of location specific documentary material and aim to create a new system for collaborative documentary production and user-curated content. The resulting project was presented as part of the International seminar and published online.