StoryLab: International Film Development Research Network

“国家和民族在很大程度上是他们自己的故事。如果他们给自己讲的是谎言，他们将承受这些谎言的后果。如果他们给自己讲面对自己真相的故事，他们将解放自己的历史，以便未来的流动。”(本·奥克里)一百年来，西方(主要是好莱坞)的霸权统治、价值观和美学可能对发展中国家的电影制作人和发达国家的独立电影制作人讲述电影故事的方式产生了长期影响。然而，数字技术正在使电影制作形式变得可访问，为不同的个人和文化通过电影表达自己的身份打开了机会。撒哈拉以南非洲黑人电影制作的爆炸性增长，强大的拉丁美洲电影的兴起，以及东南亚独立电影制作的明显增强，只是制作技术和发行和放映手段民主化的后果的几个例子。随着发展中国家的电影制片人对自己的电影制作和自己的身份越来越有信心，这种日益增长的信心将如何挑战长期以来由对西方电影的渴望而设定的质量、视觉美学、叙事结构和故事主题的概念？一个实践团队带领来自马来西亚(多媒体大学)、加纳(国家电影电视学院)、哥伦比亚(哥伦比亚国立大学)和英国的领先电影教育机构的研究人员，由来自索尔福德大学的埃里克·克努森教授领导，将为三大洲发展中国家的新兴独立电影制作人举办一系列研讨会。这个网络的一个独特特点是它将鼓励各大洲发展中国家以实践为导向的电影和媒体研究人员之间的横向合作。这个由四名研究人员组成的团队将与主办机构合作，在网络项目期间举办这些研讨会，随后由英国索尔福德大学媒体城主办的总结研讨会。利用音乐和人类学启发的跨学科方法，研究网络将开发一种名为民族学的方法论。作为一种受民族音乐学和民族志实践启发的跨学科方法，民族音乐传播学涉及研究人员积极和沉浸地参与研究文化和过程，将这种积极的个人参与作为知识生成、数据收集和评估的基础。StoryLab研究网络试图探索以下问题：发展中国家的电影制作人如何讲述电影故事，对电影制作和电影传播手段的民主化有什么影响？这些故事及其表达方式是什么，反映了在日益全球化的世界中生活的不同视角？这些新出现的叙事发展可能会在哪些方面影响英国和其他地方的电影故事讲述？

'Nations and peoples are largely the stories they feed themselves. If they tell themselves stories that are lies, they will suffer the consequences of those lies. If they tell themselves stories that face their own truths, they will free their histories for future flowerings'. (Ben Okri)One hundred years of hegemonic dominance from Western, predominantly Hollywood, values and aesthetics may have created a long term effect on how filmmakers in the developing world, and independent filmmakers in the developed world, tell stories cinematically. Digital technology is, however, making the filmmaking form accessible, opening up opportunities for diverse individuals and cultures to express their own identities through film. The explosion of filmmaking in black sub-Saharan Africa, the emergence of a strong Latin American cinema and the empowerment of independent filmmaking evident in South East Asia are but a few examples of the consequence of the democratisation not only of production technologies, but means of distribution and exhibition. As filmmakers in the developing world become more confident about their filmmaking and their own identities, how is this growing confidence going to challenge notions of quality, visual aesthetic, narrative structure and story themes for so long set by aspirations towards Western cinema?A team of practice led researchers from leading film education institutions in each of the countries of Malaysia (Multimedia University), Ghana (National Film and Television Institute), Colombia (National University of Colombia) and the UK, led by Professor Erik Knudsen from the University of Salford, will run a series of workshops for emerging independent filmmakers in developing countries on three continents. A unique feature of this network is the lateral collaboration that it will encourage between practice led film and media researchers in developing countries across continents. This team of four researchers will collaborate with the host institutions involved to deliver these workshops over the period of the network project, followed by a summarising symposium hosted by the University of Salford at MediaCityUK.Utilising interdisciplinary approaches inspired from music and anthropology, the Research Network will develop a methodology entitled Ethnomediaology. An interdisciplinary approach inspired by practices in Ethnomusicology and Autoethnography, Ethnomediaology involves the active and immersive participation of researchers in the research culture and process, using this active personal engagement as a basis for knowledge generation, data gathering and evaluation.The StoryLab Research Network seeks to explore the following questions: What are the consequences for the democratisation of the means of filmmaking and film dissemination on how filmmakers in the developing world tell cinematic stories and in what ways are these stories, and their mode of expression, reflecting a different perspective on living in an increasingly globalised world? In what ways may these emerging narrative developments impact cinematic storytelling in the UK and beyond?