Editing Community co-creation (section)

=Throatsinging=

During the storyboarding and artwork phase of filmmaking, we had also started to discuss what kind of soundtrack the film would need.
Soon, I was pointed towards Janet Aglukkaq, who had been taught the technique of throatsinging by her mom? and continues to teach others by practice. I met up with Janet and her friend Kathy Okpik, at Kathy’s house to record and film their singing. The choice to film this, rather than only audio-record it, was initially a strategic one; filming would mean additional video content that could generate attention around the "Voices of Thunder". Very quickly however, it became clear that filming would also provide a reason to come together and sing, a valuable purpose in its own right.

<HTML>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zNwo4WICXag?si=tlCjj3rixAKldXxU" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</html>

Turning the recording of their throatsinging into a music video allowed us to get creative in coming up with a little storyline. Only having a couple of hours available that day to finish the filming, we decided on a very simple story-arch of two friends visiting each other and throatsinging together. We staged some shots of how they would meet: Kathy making coffee, Janet entering the house, and the friends greeting each other. 

As they start singing, the camera zooms in, as the frame fades into a white-out and reappears as the two of them singing on the land surrounding Gjoa Haven. To shoot the scene of Kathy and Janet throatsinging on the land, we of course had to travel outside of the hamlet, which caused considerable excitement for both women and Serge, Kathy’s younger brother, who joined us. It was through our conversations between filming and driving outside the community to find a good location to film the second part of the video, that I learnt how many community members would not have the resources (like vehicles or money) to go outside of the hamlet, onto the land. 

Shooting this video provided an opportunity to be out on the land and practice the tradition of throatsinging. Something that, even though it took us only 15 minutes to drive up to the road where we were filming, can be seen as a privilege that is not accessible to everyone in the community.