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KIERAN MICALLEF Thoughts on approach and documentary. When making a video, I try not to omit any falsehoods of recording history through video and sound, and the falsehood of a clear cut relationship with the subject, which becomes co-exploitative. I like stark shifts in tone across cuts which speaks of two moments where one would usually go. Unmixed sound allows me to gawp at reality in a realer and more agoraphobic way. Hearing my own dumb voice saying something over the recording keeps me aware of my place and by deneutralising my awkward presence, speaks of that moment with greater accuracy. Watching and making Documentary allows me to stare at the world without the chance of encountering any uncomfortable eye contact, and at the shoot and in the edit, I can endlessly examine what I have caught, ethnography of my own class and nation. I am probably more concerned with my own experience of putting it together and amusing myself before I think about what someone else might think of it. When it is finished I become self-conscious that when someone else sees it, they will see what a peeping tom I am. I like to record spaces and moments that will be entirely forgettable to history otherwise, and shoot things that are likely to age ugly, and change fast. I think most of the truth we can find in documentary is in the visual and sonic detail, rather then a sweeping and broad, overtly narrativised, historical approach. My favourite moments with video come with looking at other peoples rushes, which allow you to look upon the awkward moment of someone being filmed, where if I was present, it would change the atmosphere in some way. I remember my friends A-Level music video VHS having all the rushes from her shoot [minus the exact moments used in the finished video] at the end of the tape, and I, greedily feeding on a previously unexperienced reality and gorging on the omniscience it offered.
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