Abstract

This 40 minute film - distilled from over 40 hours of video (shot over a period of 18 months)as part of the AHRC/Beyond Text funded project Children’s Playground Games and Songs in the New Media Age - provides an insight into the playground culture in two primary schools in Sheffield and London. Drawing on visual ethnography and observational methods and inspired by film makers such as Fred Wiseman, the film documents playground cultures as they were at the moment of shooting and supplements this observation with both formal and ad hoc interviews in which children discuss their games and play. The film provides a direct insight into the play cultures of children, without romanticising or aestheticising it, or providing an explanatory voice over. Through doing this, it demonstrates, contrary to some opinion, that children are articulate and knowledgeable about their own environment and culture. The film was produced, shot and edited by Grethe Mitchell.