| IATMJ Generative Community Portraits
Produced with young people from 3 schools in Bristol: Knowle West, Lawrence Weston, and Southmead, from August 2004-February 2005 Lead in
The Southmead workshop followed the format developed over the course of the three Positive Activies for Young People (PAYP) half-term workshops. We knew that there would be a stronger music-making element this time due to Simon Preston (youth worker) developing a strong music program at Southmead out of Fonthill Community Annexe. As The Cube (Bristol arts cinema) had recently made a skating film covering similar ground to what we usually do (driving round the estate etc.), so we decided to produce a portrait of the school. This suited the participants' age range (15-18 years), as they were less enthused by the community portrait idea than young people at Lawrence Weston (13-15 years). Workshop
We always begin with a general introduction to IATMJ and generative media (computers are used to generate randomly selected images). We set up the projector and speakers to present and discuss IATMJ generative works, portraits made during the other workshops (to generate a bit of tribal rivalry e.g. Lawrence Weston made 200 movies in 3 days!), plus this time we included a video illustrating the workshop format using material from previous workshops. Jungulator music program
Then we demonstrated Jungulator music software. This versatile software was used extensively by one participant at Knowle West, hardly at all at Lawrence Weston, and enjoyed its greatest usage at Southmead. In order to take advantage of their enthusiasm and talent for music, we used a Motu soundcard to enable real-time recording and playback through Jungulator. A guitar player would play a riff along to a drum loop, which is sampled, processed (pitched up, down, reversed, effected, etc), and played back to the musician. The young guitar player would then build up progressive layers of guitar parts, while excitedly proclaiming that the machine was mad, and it shouldn't be possible. A track was made from this interactive music-making, which became the soundtrack for the portrait (the engine has an embedded mp3 player which can hold original music tracks composed during the workshop, or produced previously). An extremely positive aspect of the three workshops has been the involvement of young people in the research and development of innovative self-authored audio-visual software. This software has been developed through the nine days of the workshops, with the generative player evolving in significant steps from one to the other. One might say that the young people are guinea pigs, or perhaps test pilots is a better term, but there is no question that their collective energy and patterns of use have contributed significantly to the progression of IATMJ software. Creating content
We film their usual activities, which include learning and performing guitar pieces with Simon, free-jumping, skating, drumming, playing music together etc. This continues over the 3 days with responsibility for gathering content being passed to the participants. IATMJ accept that there is a significant element of risk involved, but have found that trust is a very productive factor in generating authentic material. This was especially true at Lawrence Weston where, like bees going off from the hive with cameras in hand, they brought back nectar (very natural interviews with each other and community residents), to make honey (the portrait). Perhaps IATMJ are a) foolish, b) naive, or c) both, but we have had only one incident during the series of workshops, and this was quickly resolved by the intervention and cooperation of the young people. A shared exchange of energy
Ideas will be developed from events and casual shots from previous days, which participants now wish to repeat in a more focused way. A rich blend of informal skill acquisition and best practice across many audio-visual platforms occurs during this time. This process always features a shared exchange of energy, ideas, and learning, which enable IATMJ valuable opportunities to refine concepts thrown up during other education work. During VJ workshops with young men at Knowle West, commissioned by Knowle west Media Centre in partnership with the Detached Outreach Team, we found that the camera's mirror effect was a cheap trick to engage difficult participants. At Southmead we exploited this technique to the full by using a sunny gymnasium to improvise a Busby Berkeley-inspired routine with multiple guitarists. While we follow a flexible structure that is directed towards a focused outcome, there is always room for improvisation, and participants are encouraged to generate their own ideas within the overall objective. Processing content
As content is generated, we emphasise that in order to produce a rich and varied generative piece we need their help to process the material. Participants are shown how to digitise and edit movies using Apple Quicktime and Imovie. The emphasis is always on speed, fun and pumping out many movies, rather than getting bogged down in technical details. Participants spend time in small groups getting on with it, and ask IATMJ operatives questions if they need to. The projector is switched on for a viewing at regular intervals to maintain collective focus and to enable the group to determine what material they may be short of. The portrait is likened to a soup simmering away on a stove which we stir and taste occasionally to see if it needs more salt or spice. Small groups may then go out with a camera to gather the necessary material. IATMJ may make executive decisions in order to benefit the richness of the final mix: for example, sensing that material produced so far was predominantly produced by young men, I encouraged a group of young women who had been peripheral over the 2nd and 3rd days to quickly go and make personality reports. Before screening around 2pm on the final afternoon, we call a halt to proceedings and gather all the movies together on the host machine. IATMJ give a brief speech to thank participants for their help and explain what we've been doing to any staff or relatives that have come for the screening. The screening lasts for 15-20 mins, and will usually be followed by a mad rush to get a working version on a host machine at the venue, or to record a linear movie to VHS tape, e.g. in time for Bread Youth Projects' AGM. Nathan Hughes, 2006 | | 
Nathan Hughes
I Am The Mighty Jungulator, 2005
(click on image to view video clip) Images, below, are stills from IATMJ film documenting their work.
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