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'Confused Planet' is a project set in the town of Oundle, Northamptonshire, focusing and evolving around the abundance of life and events that a single vegetable patch produces. The project's intention is to focus on the benefits of supporting biodiversity and living in a more self-sustainable way, without enforcing these concepts onto its viewers too heavily, rather it is meant to entice them and capture their imagination a positive way.

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My Methodology revolved around starting with in depth observations made in the vegetable patch, which was achieved through observational cinema, meaning that I acted a silent objective observer, allowing events and scenes to evolve around me organically without any manipulation. Throughout my project it is clear to the viewer that a person is behind the camera as it were - Goffman(1959), argues that audiences are not supposed to see backstage. It destroys the illusion and causes them to break their suspension of disbelief. For my project however, revealing my presence through film and documentation allows for a more reflexive and truthful account. By being reflexive in this way means that the viewers can tell that I the producer, the process and the essence are a coherent whole. Not only is an audience made aware of this relationship, but they are made to realise the necessity of that knowledge. To be more formal, I would argue that being reflexive means that the I have deliberately, intentionally revealed to to my viewers the underlying epistemological assumptions which caused me to carry out this research and to present my research in a particular way, this relflexive stance is similar to that of ethnographic filmmakers Judith and David MacDougall (1998). That included first-person commentary and allowed the viewer to hear both the subject and themselves . I have also tried to engage interactively with my viewers and to be fully transparent in my methods, whilst allowing my viewers to create their own assumptions on the presented concepts and findings. I believe that reflexivity and eliciation are then the results of the anthropologist being there with the camera and not a means to a deeper truth as in Rouch's cinema-verite, hence why this is the method I have taken in relation to my project.

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Reflecting on my research, observations and the early stages of documentation of my original ‘Garden to Kitchen’ concept, that had drawn major inspiration from the ‘Goods Shed’, it was apparent that this concept had many more aspects to it than I originally thought. I see the practice of anthropology, and visual anthropology especially, as an intensely reflexive process. In practice, in this study it meant that my analysis of reflections and observations led to developing three major but interrelated concepts. The three parts of my project became vegetable patch, local produce and wild meadow. Whilst these three sections are initially presented separately in my interactive project, they all contain themes that intertwine with one another. These themes are exchange, self sufficiency, the support of biodiversity, the impact on cohesion in communities and one’s place within them. The themes are ultimately part of a much more significant narrative involving our relationship with the environment and each other. Showing that the simple act of nurturing a vegetable garden can have far reaching effects - perhaps more locally in practical terms but in a much wider concept, if more communities were to make small conscience changes in their daily lives this would have greater effect. Consequently, my aim was to create a parallel format for my viewers, one that presents them with choices in a narrative and although their decisions alter the routes that they may take they will always return back to the main narrative. In summary, the website home page presents viewers with options of where to start my ethnography, yet all lead back to the main narrative and themes within my ethnographic project.

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Sound plays a very important role within my ethnographic project; it was partially through listening to the sounds in the meadow  and the vegetable patch that I was able to be reflexive and make the decision than I needed to develop my original concept. Unlike Paige West, whose ethnography 'From Modern Production to Imagined Primitive'(2012) which concerned itself with the production of coffee. West decided that writing about coffee, gold and souls was all too much (West, 2012), yet I decided that my findings were so interwoven I therefore needed to deviate from my original concept. Throughout my project I have tried to get the viewers to engage with the sound of recorded footage. As Paul Henley explains sound can have an impact on the viewer that is more visceral than vision. I believe that the sound of the song birds in my clips in the wild meadow and the vegetable patch add another rich interactive dimension to my project and thickens my ethnographic description, more than words or sight can do. (Henley, 2007) 

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Finally, the title of my project "Confused Planet" and the subtitle; "In this modern society too often we feel that everything has to revolve around money." Was chosen after the research and ethnographic documentation was completed. In essence, the phrase "Confused Planet" is a short summary of my reflexive findings. I have then placed this at the top of every page with the subtitle line as a reference point for the viewer to look back upon whilst viewing my project, with the intention that they themselves will produce their own views to why the planet may be confused. It can be argued that this then opens up an opportunity for deeper exploration of why and how our society could be losing its way. 

 

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