13

It’s not a new idea. Ten still images in which to tell a story is a preliminary task to get into film school. However it was my partner who finally said “This is enough. Stop. You need a structure. You have 1/2 an hour. Go and storyboard 10 frames to tell the whole story.”
Then do it again... five times.
So I have done three and though I have meandered off again this time I’m feel much more on track. Another two 10 frame stories in the next week as I rethink the areas I’m covering and then I’ll contemplate the five story lines I’ve proposed to see if one stands out or I should merge ideas into a final 10 frame story. This process brings up so many thoughts that I have had to stop and edit some more assemblies. Because my bin structure is not consistant or rather my logging doesn’t match my bins, the way that I have been able to figure out how to quickly view and access material is through iview. Version 1 that came bundled with Roxio Toast 5 is fast and suits my purposes for storyboarding and media management. However when my partner saw another assembly she got mad and said “just finish the 10 frames. Then you’ll have something to hang your edit on; something substantial.”
Of course she’s right but as I am learning what my material is in more detail I am starting to feel that I want to bring back footage and ideas that I’d forgotten about and felt were not a part of the project.
Think loosely act decisively... at this stage.

Having finished half this exercise I now believe that I am concentrating on four questions that I will propose at the beginning of the film:
1 What is the difference between a corroboree and a ceremony?
2 Are the people in these performances acting or being?
3 Who are the owners and what does ownership mean?
4 What are masks?

As for the new approach to back pain management. As well as a regular exercise program the issues concerning what that pain means for me continue and I am starting work on that. Sitting in front of a computer without a break for hours and the hankering for sugar are both comfort seeking, but in the long term, self destructive behaviours.

12 devil devil

This painting depicts Darrarru (Devil Devil) from the Gurirr-Gurirr ceremonial cycle.

'Darrarru' by Paddy Tjamintji. Pigment on board, late 1970s
Source: National Museum of Australia
http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/rsrch/rsrch_pp/aicn/m_act_nma.html

10 The Treatment

"So what does this pain mean to you?" asked my doctor today.
As I spoke about the injustices that made me angry I felt the pain reduce. My intention with this PhD is to get a load off my back.
For years I have felt that things are wrong. Well they are and I want to change things but in a different way to what has sparked me up.
My anger is now eating me up. As an actor it was often a driving force and anger as a survival mechanism has had it's place and value but it is also a counter productive force.

I wrote to ask the advice of an old friend who is a GP about my back pian who emailed me back

" Suggest far less time on computer. Max 5 hours a week at really good desk, really good seat –even better lying horizontal ideally week (SEVEN DAYS) with no harmful electromagnetic radiation --- turn off 100% --- //maybe gentle exercise like dancing or swimming or surfing or chantic sex.. ---- good massage----walk everywhere don’t drive."


This is the kind of thing I had been thinking although I am not quite sure what is meant by chantic sex. I suppose it's a form of singing.

My decision is to fix my back. That means cutting out on sitting at my computer for huge stretches without a break and in fact changing my whole attitude to myself, my family and my work. How can I exercise everyday and push past pain into another way of living?

9 The Prime Minister of Australia

http://www.blueoregon.com/images/johnhoward.georgebush-thumb.jpg

see http://www.blueoregon.com/elizabeth_cage/

"All countries must understand their history and their past and be candid about them. And that applies to all of us."

Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Tokyo, 20 April 2005.

8 Kalumburu mask

photo by Peter Lucich


This image, on the cover of a book by the Berndts "Aborigines of the West", is from Kalumburu and the mask came from Pt Keats. The dancer is probably Alec (Ooroomalloo) The dancer went unacknowledged by the authors who wrote elsewhere that masks

" are atypical for Aboriginal Australia. They are reported from only two areas: around Cape York, which has had contact from New Guinea via the Torres Strait islands; and Pindan, near Port Headland, also presumably as a result of outside contact. Instead of masks, then, the Aborigines have paid much attention to facial designs" (Berndt and Berndt 1965:427).

Kalumburu often goes unrecognised in the east of Australia. Recently the community was struck by cyclone Ingrid which they are recovering from while they have the much larger task of getting over 100 years of systemic problems to do with the structure of a missionary fabricated community. Whatever you think of the missionaries and their past activities Kalumburu is now in urgent need of resources and basic assistance. This week Australia's national press highlighted the federal government targeting Pt Keats or Wadeye. This designated community is considered the most disadvantaged in Australia. The problems are similar throughout a number of northern communities and Kalumburu is not atypical.

One problem in Kalumburu that constantly holds up harmonious development is that families who traditionally don't get on are all bundled together. For this reason alone it is far from an ideal community, a predicament that all missionary based towns have manufactured. All the while the strength of cultural heritages shines through and the people hold their languages and traditions dearly.

The glaring failure we must acknowledge as Australians in Pt Keats, Kalumburu and many communities in the north of Australia is that they have become places where the elderly are in peril. The media catch cry for assistance is always to do with the degradation that children often experience. They too do need attention. Both young and old deserve an attention that is sorely lacking from all quarters. By that I mean concerning health, welfare and safety. One example of this is something we rarely hear about with elderly men who worked as stockmen and gave their lives to the cattle industry who suffer from injuries caused while working on cattle stations and are neglected by everybody... and they slip painfully away.

My personal opinion:
All the traditional owners both men and women throughout the Kimberley, and for that matter the whole of Australia, who are more than 50 years of age ought to be recognised as Australia's national treasures immediately and attended to with the appropriate respect to help them live comfortable and secure lives and to enable them to maintain and pass on the knowledges they hold. That doesn't dismiss that there are also younger national treasures. It is simply to say that the older people are the ones who in any just society ought to have their basic needs fulfilled. This is fundamental not to mention that in 50 years time it will be too late for our institutions to awaken and catch up to the fact that right now traditional owners hold knowledges that are beyond the grasp of our libraries, laboratories, hospitals and lecture rooms.

My editing progress
I have been laid up for two weeks unable to edit with the death of my grandma and my ongoing bad back.
Now.
How can I edit without spending hours sitting in front of my computer? Stand up? Take regular breaks? Sure.
... and when I find the answer, which I must do to complete this task, I'll have something important to contribute to the world. In the generation of the declining back we are not spineless - just losing the support of our spines, with underdeveloped and shrinking muscles.
Oh hail 'salute to the sun', McKenzie and pilates.