Point of Beginning Animated Graphic Documentary

This is a split-off from both the "aesthetic action" thread and the "voices of thunder" thread

Storyboarding and artwork

Once the script was adapted, finalized and approved through a collective reading with the HTO board, we started to visualize scenes through a combination of sketching and conversation. This latter exercise was done with a smaller group; HTO chairman James Qitsualik, vice-chairman William Aglukkaq, Jacob Keanik, me and BearWatch co-PI Peter van Coeverden-de Groot, a total of five people. We first decided which parts of the script felt like they would together comprise a scene. I would then ask the HTO-board members how we could best visualize that scene; for example where it would take place, and who would be present? As they would start conversing together and lay out a particular setting -often drawn from situations in their own life, or from other hunters-, I would start sketching multiple rough compositions based on their descriptions without interrupting their conversation. At moments where it felt appropriate, I would present multiple quick sketches, and ask them to select and comment on which composition felt like it best reflected the setting of their description, and or what changes it needed to better reflect their desription.

Pictures

After the selection and adaptation of each sketch I would ask follow-up questions to gain a better understanding of that particular scene. For example, in the opening scene of the film we see two hunters and their dogs hunt a polar bear. More detailed descriptions for this scene clarified that that the hunters should wear traditional garbs, and weapons like a bow and arrow and a spear, because it described a pre-quota moment in time. James and William would clarify how these weapons were used; the spear for example would be used in up close encounters with polar bears and held in place by balancing the spear on one foot. Explanations like these would often result in bringing up memories of their own hunting stories and polar bear encounters, which were also shared with lots of excitement and referrals to specific locations on the map hanging on the wall of the HTO office. Aesthetic experience triggering memories After co-creating a preliminary storyboard in this way, I would take the descriptions, notes and rough sketches to Danny Aaluk; a Gjoa Haven based graphic artist who had been preferred by the HTO board to work on this film with. Danny makes detailed black and white ink-drawings that he sells to tourists that arrive by cruise ship in the summer, teachers and researchers that come into town. He also makes artwork for local events, the school and the hamlet office, and is occasionally invited to art-fairs ‘in the South’. Danny and I would end up spending a lot of time together. We would talk the scene through, and he would ask detailed questions on the content of each scene. More quick sketches from both me and Danny could often clarify the compositions of each setting and what kind of details were discussed with the HTO board members. Sometimes Danny would ask questions that I could not answer, spurring follow-up conversations with James and William. These conversations sometimes brought up new details for certain scenes. For example, it became clear that the traditional hunting scene should also have dogs in it, because dogs were very important companion animals in the hunting of polar bears. They would go ahead and sometimes even kill the bear before the hunter could catch up. Whenever Danny had finished a drawing I would bring them to James and William, to see if anything was missing or should be changed. Sometimes minor changes were made, like in the scene where the MoU between the NWMB, Gjoa Haven and Cambridge bay is signed. Mostly the drawings invoked affective responses where the initial stories and experiences that had led to the drawing were repeated, or more related stories shared. As such a heuristic device that allows for catharsis?

The process of collaborating with Danny also allowed for an opportunity to get to know each other. Both as creative collaborators, but also on the level of building an informal, personal relationship. We would usually spend considerable amounts of time chatting or drinking tea before and after the more transactional activities of payment, and dropping off drawings or sketches. As is the case with many of the other people in the community that I ended up collaborating with, such moments were also often combined with small favours like rides to the store, or elsewhere in town, technical assistance with phone plans or small monetary advances for upcoming work. Very often these moments would also include Danny sharing stories about his grandfather who would take him out on the land and teach him about the animals and the ice. Although these are informal moments, outside of the research agenda and data collection, I argue they cannot be seen as separate from the research. These informal moments of sharing knowledge and mutual care, allow for micro-environment of relational accountability that emerges when one fully engages in Inuit communities.

Keavy Martin

Editing and Motion Graphics

Invitation:Trail-off to understand better how my whereabouts influenced my writing, reading and broader relationship to the country during Covid-19

Film screenings

This will be an-text link: Voices of Thunder animated graphic documentary