That’s Entertainment/The Conjuror’s Assistant

The Conjuror’s Assistants is an attempt to reveal some problems inherent in “verite documentary” – voyeurism, the nature/extent of a verite intervention” and audience “passivity”.
A frame by frame analysis of just 100ft of documentary footage taken at a Children’s Christmas party, the film shows the (exemplary?) behaviour of the young man “entertaining” the adults and children and his two young assistants, the first, a younger boy, the second, an older girl, and the reaction of the audience – men and women supervising children of both sexes.
The materiality of the film (visible handling marks, re-shooting to alter time scale on high contrast film produces a “graphic” image) is used to distance the action and encourage a reading of the “text” of the film in the way that it seems to me a pro-filmic documentary is “read” – from the particular instance (on screen) as “exemplary incident” – i.e. from the particular instance (on screen) as “exemplary incident” – i.e. from the particular to the general.
The re-edited second version attempts further to suggest a re-ordering of actual incident in time and through psychological reaction and memory processes, using the possibilities inherent IN THE FILM MEDIUM. The addition of a sound track is an attempt to suggest various cultural paths which may illumine aspects of the action further (emotional response?) – the musical references are here used with some degree of irony. I was also experimenting with the effect that music has on viewing images.
Implicit in the making of this film is the wish for the “action” to be reconsidered and insights acted upon…
Are women and children people too?! – J.I.