Why ‘hearing it’ is so important by Julia Letts

By on December 12, 2012 in Black Country Stories

Over the past few weeks I have been listening back to the ‘Black Country Stories’ that I’ve recorded during the last six months. The stories are the personal memories and experiences of a wide range of people, who were photographed by Martin Parr earlier this year. And these people are as diverse as they are fascinating. My knowledge of looking after ferrets, the work of Wolverhampton’s Inter Faith Group, how to run a food bank and where to find vintage clothes has increased amazingly!

These stories will create an archive which will be kept safe by the local councils, be accessible to the public and preserved for future generations. One of my interviewees described the archive as a ‘time stamp’ and I rather like this phrase. It sums up what we’re trying to do – provide a snap shot of Black Country life in 2012. But instead of burying this time capsule of stories, we want to share it with you – both now and in the future. For that reason, I’ve been listening back to the interviews and picking out a few extracts for our website.

As an oral historian, I firmly believe that you need to hear the recordings… not just read transcripts of them. There’s something very important about the way people say things… the words they use, the pace of their delivery, the emphasis they put on things, and their silences; what they don’t say, the pauses, the sighs, the hesitations. And of course there’s the accents too. Listening back to more than 20 hours of recordings has reinforced my passion in the ‘orality’ of oral history.

So if you find Martin Parr’s gallery of photos, you will also see an audio symbol on some of pictures. Click on them. You’ll be taken to a world of hairdressing, brewing, school life, pubs and partying, churches, dancehalls, factories, fashion and adventure. Enjoy listening to the voices. They reveal as much as the photographs do about Black Country life.


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Documentary film of Small Change: Stirchley – The Making of Stirchley Park (SC01)

By on November 7, 2012 in Small Change

Multistory have produced a series of films, with the filmmaker Ewan Jones-Morris, to document four Small Change Community Projects. The films ‘shine a light’ on a particular problem in a community and give communities an opportunity to respond to issues that affect them in new, creative and unconventional ways. The films show how Small Change projects can start to make change happen and be the catalyst to bring different stakeholders together.

Small Change: Stirchley looks at how Place Prospectors, a community interest company working in Stirchley, Birmingham worked with local people to help increase awareness about a forgotten and hidden park in the community.


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Podcast Features ‘Where We Dream’

By on October 29, 2012 in Black Country Stories

Where We Dream is featured in a conversation on episode 3 of Chris Goode & Company’s Thompson’s Live podcast. Joining Chris for this recording at Stoke Newington International Airport were:

  • Phelim McDermott, co-artistic director of Improbable
  • Rajni Shah, performance maker
  • John Hall, poet; Professor of Performance Writing, University College Falmouth

The panel were asked to talk about something in the arts that they have experienced lately. Rajni Shah chose François Matarasso’s Where We Dream book and DVD. This discussion takes place at about 8:20 into the podcast.

You can listen to the podcast here

There’s a bit of interference on the audio of this episode, particularly in the first minute. Apologies for that — we hope it doesn’t spoil your enjoyment.

The book Where We Dream (with DVD) mentioned by Rajni can be ordered from the Multistory shop.

The Ira Glass video mentioned by Phelim is here: http://vimeo.com/24715531

The Sara Maitland piece mentioned by Chris is here: http://www.aeonmagazine.com/world-views/sara-maitland-wind-farms-beauty-and-justice/

We welcome your comments.


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Charlemont – Committee of Lost Memories

By on October 11, 2012 in Small Change

Katy and Torange are proposing a pop-up shop and cafe in a row of shops, on Charelemont Estate, West Bromwich, which will take place over 1-2 weeks in February 2012. Leading on from their previous research in the area, the shop would have multiple functions including: acting as an archive space for collecting and displaying artefacts and memories about the estate; holding classes and activities for adults which reflect the lost trades and knowledge of the community (and providing a space for ‘local experts’; holding games nights to re-enact lost games; and generating funds through a cafe which people can then pitch for to make small local projects happen.

Main project objectives

  • Continue to collect and display material with the longer term objective of creating a more permanent ‘Museum of Charlemont’
  • Re-enacting old activities which will attract different users to the space and create interactions, generating mini-organisations or groups which can pitch for money
  • Providing a forum for ‘local experts’  to display and share knowledge
  • Generating income which can then go back into making community projects happen

This is one of four Small Change:Creative Projects managed by Multistory in 2011-2012.


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Black Country Stories with Multistory

By on October 9, 2012 in Black Country Stories

by Manjeet Gil

What Is Black Country Stories?

Earlier this year we (Black Country Cinema) were contacted by Sandwell based charity Multistory about the possibility of working on a project to tell the story of the ‘everyday life’ in the Black Country. With our earlier work including Luv’in the Black Country and Walk 17 being instrumental in our development as filmmakers, it was clear that Multistory wanted us to take this project in the same direction. So the project itself is called Black Country Stories which is a multi-commission programme, produced by Multistory, that invites artists to document and record life in, yes, the Black Country. Our commission was to produce 4 short films that would run with the theme of the project, and not a coincidence that this meant we would direct a film each using the other 3 as a production crew.

The Brief

A great honour for us in that we’d be joining a project that has internationally acclaimed artists such as Martin Parr, Mark Power, Margaret Drabble and David Goldblatt already working on it. But approaching things from the angle of film was something we could do differently, in our own style and as always something we wanted to capitalise on. Having gone away to think about the project as individuals, we locked ourselves away to pen down just exactly what it was we each wanted to say with our films. Matthew chose to focus on the people of Bilston markets as it was already something Multistory were interested in. He had already been toying with the idea of a film about the markets immediately after finishing Luv’in, so it seemed the natural choice. While filming The Passing Spirit I was shooting in my granddad’s old allotment which inspired me immensely, so an allotment was going to be the setting of my film. Jaspal’s earlier research lead him to discover that King Charles II had taken refuge in Willenhall, and so built his idea around this. Finally, Andrew decided to broaden the scope and create a journey throughout the Black Country, travelling through the local towns and meeting people along the way.

The entire brief was discussed some time in April, but filming didn’t begin until late August. Obviously essentials such as equipment, contracts and insurance need to be sorted before any of the good stuff can start.

We started shooting as soon as we laid hands on the camera, and although we had gotten used to the luxury of DSLRs, we were soon planted firmly back at our roots with a solid camcorder. As the cinematographer on three of the films, I can say it was in some ways refreshing and in some ways unsatisfying. The ease of control, precise reach of all dials and indeed the absence of a rig, meant it was great to hold and the speed in filming off the cough and obtaining focus fast for Andrew’s film was amazing. However when it came to shooting mine and Matthew’s film where aesthetics and composition were much more important, it proved difficult to achieve shots that lived up to our previous work. However it was all a process and one thing I’ve learnt is to never assume exactly what you want the film to be before hand, let it happen naturally and you’ll be much happier with the results. Jaspal being more of a camcorder veteran was always going to feel at home however, and after looking at some of his rushes you can tell. Andrew was our dedicated sound recordist and dealt with some of the strongest local winds I think we have ever filmed in. Getting to know new equipment is always a challenge and something that took us time to adjust to, but the results I think are shaping up nicely.

Where Are We Now?

As you can tell by the manner in which I’m writing we aren’t finished yet, but getting there quite fast. We came into this project as usual having all sorts of pre conceptions about what we wanted, though I speak for everyone when I say what we’ve come away with has been a completely new experience in film-making. Andrew and Matthew more than ever in this case, as they’ve experimented a lot with pace and style, and believe it or not we actually have an entire film with non-stop camera movement!

We’ll keep the blog updated with the progress, and hope to have some screenings real soon.


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