The MAP: Memory and Place project is a way to explore the collective memory of Victoria through the moving image. Short films, ranging from contemporary video to archival film footage, are stored in MAP. Each one of them contains a strong sense or 'memory' of the place where it was made. By navigating an interactive map of Victoria you can encounter and watch these visual memories, experiencing place through the lens of the camera.
MAP seeks to create a topography of memory for Victoria by absorbing the stories of its towns, suburbs and neighbourhoods and sharing them with its people. MAP is never complete and always growing and you can make your mark on it by submitting new or old filmic meditations on place.
The essential criteria for a MAP work is:
- that it is short
- that it is engaging
- that it captures a unique sense of memory, identity and place
- that you have the right to exhibit it in a public space
MAP is a project designed to allow diverse communities across Victoria to represent themselves and capture untapped resources from Victoria's rich media history. MAP is not an archive and not just about old film; MAP encourages people to think about creating work that captures a sense of place as a visual memory. The project is as much about creating a memory for the future as well as keeping those recorded in the past.
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| Image: The Golden Dragons, Bendigo Chinese Association and the Golden Dragon Museum, 2003. |
How can you get involved?
You can get involved in the MAP as:
- a film student
- somebody with home movies that specifically capture a sense of Memory and Place
- as a community group (for example a historical society might work with a local filmmaker to make a short documentary about their hometown using photos and recorded interviews)
- as a visual artist or photographer using new digital technology to transform work from one media to another
- as an amateur filmmaker with a camera and a computer
- as a more experienced filmmaker who would like to contribute to the project
MAP invites every Victorian to send in a short work that captures a visual 'memory' specific to the location where it was made. Unfortunately we can currently only accept those works provided to us in digital video format.
8mm and 16mm film footage
Many people are interested in contributing their 8mm and 16mm 'historical' film footage to the MAP project.
If you have old film footage that you would like to submit to the MAP project, you will first need to have your footage transferred to digital video or video format. There are two ways to do this. Firstly, for a high quality result you can send the footage to one of a number of telecine facilities based in Victoria and ask them to transfer your film to a digital video format. Options include Mini DV, DVCAM, SPBETA or Digital Betacam. MiniDV is the cheapest and will be fine for the MAP. You can ask them to create a VHS or DVD at the same time for your own purposes, but check the price first as telecine can be expensive.
Alternatively, if you have access to a film projector and digital video camera, there is the time honoured 'low cost' method of projecting the film onto a plain white projection surface and then filming the projection with a digital video camera.
Making 'historical' film come alive
An old film may be interesting to look at in its own right, but it only becomes relevant to the MAP themes of 'Memory, Identity and Place' when it tells us something about lives that have been lived. The easiest way to communicate this is for you to add your thoughts and feelings to the footage by recording a voiceover narrative.
There are two ways you may like to consider doing this:
1. The ACMI Digital Storytelling program
If you would like to learn how to use moving image to tell stories from your life or your family's, you might like to consider enrolling in a digital storytelling workshop at ACMI.
In what is usually a three-day process, purpose-trained facilitators guide people through the telling of a personal story in a workshop using multimedia tools. Digital stories are usually about your life - but you can also make comments about the significance of place in your personal history. For more information on ACMI's Digital Storytelling program, and to view stories, visit the Digital Storytelling section.
2. You may have, or know somebody who has, the skills to personalise your film by adding your voiceover commentary.
An exercise you can do at home:
- Choose 3 minutes of the film that are significant to you
- Write a short dialogue about the significance of the film - does it capture your memories, was it an important part of your or your family's life that has been documented? How does seeing that place on film or video make you feel?
- Practise the timing of the dialogue against the preview copy of the film with the sound turned down.
You may prefer to make a poetic or musical response to the archival footage instead.
Find out how to submit a student / community work to the MAP project here
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