Bill Riley, Dion Hitchens and James F Ormsby COLLABORATION

WHAT GRABBED ME MOST?
Firstly the diverse range of practitioners that took part in the collaborative project that then formed a group called SEEK. A painter,sculptor/installationist and a drawer in my mind creates a grand collective.  As Ormsby put it a "chaos theory". All of these artists began exhibiting together throughout New Zealand starting in Gisborne followed by shows in Upper Hutt, Marsterton and currently exhibiting in Melbourne Australia.  One thing that interested me with their work is the intention of working with "The Community".  The engagement that they had for those around them was amazing.  It truly showed the extent of commitment between the artists as individuals and the "average joe",which was relevant to their exhibition of value and the journey to getting there.  The value of something can be priceless I suppose!  Which leads me to something else that intrigued me, especially with James Ormsbys' work in his portrayal of his culture or indigenous history.  He says that he "doesn't create things he re-creates them" I think the philosophy behind that suits his practice and context as a Maori and/or Indigenous artist.  Authenticity is proudly shown through communication and engagement within themselves and the community.  Great lecture.
To speak of one of James Ormsbys' works that i particularly liked was that of the map work he had drawn and the interesting story he told of the "old day" maps and how they were drawn and how interpreted them of how he thought a map made by maori would look like.  So as a maori I too would query into why these or how these were down or recorded.This leaves me thinking and researching into such theories.  I loved the use of geographic and historic moments within Aotearoa, New Zealand.
http://jamesormsby.com/maorigamiseries.htm

Eldon Booth

Eldon Booth
Moving Image/ Film Maker & Director and also a Lecturer at M.I.T.  I found Booths' practice very interesting and quite relevant to my previous studies in my studio brief. Booth produces "experimental narrative filming  and drama documentaries".  These are exercised with the intend of playing with both fiction and faction.  Booth has made two short films with funding from Film/Animation within the Film Commission and is currently producing a film called "Finding Honk".  I seen the trailer and I'm totally intrigued and would love to watch this when it's released.  One of the equipment used in Booths' film is the famous Phantom Camera that records 1000 frames a second.  Amazing!  
Also in the class we watched a movie recommended by Booth titled "Elephant".  I felt that this movie was very sad, scary and because it was based on the true events of the Columbian Killers.  It's scary to think that children can think of such disturbing crimes.  I also felt that it addressed so many issues that may be troubling youth of today.  Also the access to weapons in America is just like going to the candy store and picking all that you would like to try no matter how "rotten " they may be.  The intense camera techniques used in the movie are those that make you feel like your in the movie.  Great Point Of View shots, Live recordings in the everyday sort of situations.  The movie had set some great moods in which the lighting and environments were realistic and clearly emphasised.  
My conclusion for this lecture was that I got a good look in depth of what Booth does as a Film maker/Director. Watching the trailer to Finding Honk reminds me of the sets of some of the other NZ series programmes on t.v.  Also I love the Point of View shots they make you think about all the techniques visually, and compostionally that can be used to tell your story.