27928 - Laboratory (1) (LM) (G. G)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the workshop, students will acquire skills in the practical application of the abilities developed during the courses, enabling them to interact effectively within professional activities in the design, production, and dissemination of live entertainment activities.

Course contents

In the summer of 1961, sociologist Edgar Morin and anthropologist Jean Rouch wandered the streets of Paris, interviewing passersby about the concept of happiness, the war in Algeria, and their sexual habits. The resulting film, Chronicle of a Summer, provides a vivid snapshot of Parisian society in the early 1960s, capturing in particular the atmosphere of the cultural revolution—sexual, decolonial, and class—that erupted in France and Europe in 1968. Consistent with the atmosphere of political liberation that surrounded it, the film employs a participatory and performative method, in which some of the interviewees become active subjects in the filmmaking process.

In this multimedia workshop, students will develop a small participatory ethnography project, inspired by a personal anthropological/sociological/political reflection on urban spaces. The workshop draws inspiration from the film Chronicle of a Summer in combining sociological/anthropological research with a performative and participatory methodology.

The workshop will introduce students to the methodology of cinema verité, which requires complex sound recording and filming techniques, allowing for improvisation, adaptation to local lighting and sound conditions, and unplanned interaction with film subjects. This hybrid nature of cinema verité—both sociological and performative—will be explored by the invited artists, who, working at the intersection of art and activism, have developed open, hybrid, and co-participatory methodologies and processes.

Readings/Bibliography

Cecilia Pennacchi. 2015. Filmare le Culture. Einaudi. 

Teaching methods

the laboratory combines frontal teaching and practical exercise testing the basic skills of filming and editing.

Assessment methods

Individual Final Project. 

Teaching tools

Powerpoint, Video and Master class by professional filmmakers and visual artists. 

Office hours

See the website of Massimiliano Nicola Mollona