internet meme du jour

Full disclosure here: we may be called Honest Films but that doesn’t mean we don’t understand how images can be seen as being ‘real’ when they, and the meaning imposed on them, can actually be very much constructed and misconstrued.

As the video illustrates, meaning is not intrinsic to an image but rather constructed through the production and interpretation of an image. The basic material (kittens) remains intact but the meaning “We’re wine bottles!” is clearly one the reader’s unique perspective has constructed – the kittens are not wine bottles nor are they trying to be wine bottles. The idiosyncratic interpretation here provides entertainment but becomes problematic when a film is meant to be representing a culture, a ritual, a person’s life.

This means labelling, context and production are crucial in creating visual documents that not only represent the subject accurately and without prejudice as is possible but also is supported and presented in a way that guides the appropriate interpretation. For us that means that we present the films we make as part of a wider debrief and discussion of our fieldwork, all done by the researchers themselves. We also involve participants in the production of the films and will always take into account, what is happening off camera, on camera and behind the camera in our process.