Disaster Capitalism and the rise of the Civil Society
Seeing the wood and the trees/ Integrate rather than segregate/ Succession/ Obtain a yield
The goals for this OP Packet are listed below;
- To gain a clear personal understanding of how the econmy has developed, particularly the last 50 years.
- To gain clarity understanding how corporations and governments interact presently.
- To condense large amounts of varying research into a more concise and coherent format for easy explanation to others.
- Gain clarity personally on next actionable steps for world change.
- Produce a film of my findings to share at my upcoming PDC.
- Give a comprehensive overview of key events and attitudes that have affected globalisation in the last 50 years.
- Offer positive solutions based strategies to inspire people to
- Learn how to use my new film camera and editing software in preperation for Indonesian filming adventure.
This project revolves around four key works I have read;
I have also watched various films and documentaries in the past few years that infom my attitude and approah to this project. These include;
The research has taken the form of extracting information that struck me deeply, moved me in a powerful way, or seemed fundamental in understanding a Meta level view of often very complex and multi- level systems involved in economic change.
- Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein
- Alternatives to economic globalisation, The International Forum on Globalisation
- Shaping Globalisation, Nicanor Perlas
- The Cultural Creatives, Paul Ray and Ruth Anderson
I have also watched various films and documentaries in the past few years that infom my attitude and approah to this project. These include;
The research has taken the form of extracting information that struck me deeply, moved me in a powerful way, or seemed fundamental in understanding a Meta level view of often very complex and multi- level systems involved in economic change.
Shock Doctrine was the first book I read. I happened upon it by chance in a Guesthouse I frequent when visiting Chiang Mai from the Panya Project. The previous reader had read it and been very moved , writing in the cover that She wished people would read it and pass it on to keep it circulating.
Upon talking with my PA, Dave Shaw, and expressing a discontentment with my perceived limitations of grass roots movements, I was pointed towards the other books listed in the Goals Articulation.
These offered a very positive solutions based approach to actions, and left me totally convinced of the power of an individual to effect world change. Seeing the opportunities available to an individual to get involved and effect big systems,I really wanted to share that too.
I decided I wanted to produce a film that would be information dense yet approachable for people with some degree of interest. I was keen to extrapolate the key points that would present a wide Meta view of economics and how that has developed and meshed with politics. There were a lot of negative pictures painted as examples of the dangers of excessive corporate power and their involvement with government policy making. I decided this was necessary in a journey through
history to explain how such a large and complex situation has arisen from simpler intentions. I was overcome with how much attention was afforded to positive solutions and wanted to present an overview of these whilst ensuring any individual could relate this to immediately actionable tasks.
I was travelling and reconnecting with Michelle, who had just returned from the USA, so I did not have a large amount of time to work on the project before getting back to the PDC. I wanted to get to output together rapidly and yet still gain some good understanding of the editing side of things.
I decided on a format that would give a basic overview of corporatist economics, followed by a history of the last 50 years highlighting key events and linking pieces of information together to allow a more comprehensive picture of how the world has been run. I wanted the second half of the film to concentrate on the positive articulation of the sorts of changes needed to make policy serve the wellbeing of the majority. I wanted to close the film with a positive and immediate set of solutions that people could immediately implement in their lives if they felt moved to.
Upon talking with my PA, Dave Shaw, and expressing a discontentment with my perceived limitations of grass roots movements, I was pointed towards the other books listed in the Goals Articulation.
These offered a very positive solutions based approach to actions, and left me totally convinced of the power of an individual to effect world change. Seeing the opportunities available to an individual to get involved and effect big systems,I really wanted to share that too.
I decided I wanted to produce a film that would be information dense yet approachable for people with some degree of interest. I was keen to extrapolate the key points that would present a wide Meta view of economics and how that has developed and meshed with politics. There were a lot of negative pictures painted as examples of the dangers of excessive corporate power and their involvement with government policy making. I decided this was necessary in a journey through
history to explain how such a large and complex situation has arisen from simpler intentions. I was overcome with how much attention was afforded to positive solutions and wanted to present an overview of these whilst ensuring any individual could relate this to immediately actionable tasks.
I was travelling and reconnecting with Michelle, who had just returned from the USA, so I did not have a large amount of time to work on the project before getting back to the PDC. I wanted to get to output together rapidly and yet still gain some good understanding of the editing side of things.
I decided on a format that would give a basic overview of corporatist economics, followed by a history of the last 50 years highlighting key events and linking pieces of information together to allow a more comprehensive picture of how the world has been run. I wanted the second half of the film to concentrate on the positive articulation of the sorts of changes needed to make policy serve the wellbeing of the majority. I wanted to close the film with a positive and immediate set of solutions that people could immediately implement in their lives if they felt moved to.
Design Cycle for the making of the film;
The making of the film was limited by time, as I was travelling with Michelle briefly before returning to Panya to teach a PDC then transitioning away from the community and Thailand. I was very keen to have the project finished so I could focus my attention completely on teaching to a large group.
I scripted the film whilst staying on the Similan islands. We decided to film the content in 4 days in different locations, leaving time to edit the material before the long journey back to Panya.
It seemed nice to contrast the natural beauty and serenity of the beaches with the gritty streets of Bangkok, as this would support the content material. The introduction and positive end of the film would be filmed in pleasant surroundings, contrasted with the ugly history of corporate capitalism, which we decided to film in harsher environments.
This worked well I think. I divided the script into little shots that would make what is
essentially me speaking for an hour seem more accessible and interesting. We shot the beginning and ending scenes at the beach, at sunrise and sunset respectively. The film is almost like a journey, so this seemed fitting as a visual reference for that journey.
It required many takes to remember long clips faultlessly, so we adapted our shooting by cutting shorter clips and reading some of the clips to speed up the process. This generally worked well although the shots where I am obviously reading are less engaging for me.
As the film can be cropped in camera, this allowed for fairly rapid compilation on an editing timeline, massively reducing the time associated with transferring files, cutting and syncing, etc. As the mic on the camera is very basic I did not expect very useable sound, and shall be investing in a microphone for the Indonesian filming and subsequent projects.
The editing was cut down to arranging clips, overdubbing music, and tweaking levels as much as possible to balance the noisy environments we filmed in.
The resulting compressed video, which unfortunately has lost so much of the quality the camera is capable of, was then uploaded to Vimeo, and can be seen via the link, http://vimeo.com/8011188
The first viewing of the film is lined up for the upcoming PDC at Panya, where I hope to screen it as an information piece looking at the big economic picture.
I scripted the film whilst staying on the Similan islands. We decided to film the content in 4 days in different locations, leaving time to edit the material before the long journey back to Panya.
It seemed nice to contrast the natural beauty and serenity of the beaches with the gritty streets of Bangkok, as this would support the content material. The introduction and positive end of the film would be filmed in pleasant surroundings, contrasted with the ugly history of corporate capitalism, which we decided to film in harsher environments.
This worked well I think. I divided the script into little shots that would make what is
essentially me speaking for an hour seem more accessible and interesting. We shot the beginning and ending scenes at the beach, at sunrise and sunset respectively. The film is almost like a journey, so this seemed fitting as a visual reference for that journey.
It required many takes to remember long clips faultlessly, so we adapted our shooting by cutting shorter clips and reading some of the clips to speed up the process. This generally worked well although the shots where I am obviously reading are less engaging for me.
As the film can be cropped in camera, this allowed for fairly rapid compilation on an editing timeline, massively reducing the time associated with transferring files, cutting and syncing, etc. As the mic on the camera is very basic I did not expect very useable sound, and shall be investing in a microphone for the Indonesian filming and subsequent projects.
The editing was cut down to arranging clips, overdubbing music, and tweaking levels as much as possible to balance the noisy environments we filmed in.
The resulting compressed video, which unfortunately has lost so much of the quality the camera is capable of, was then uploaded to Vimeo, and can be seen via the link, http://vimeo.com/8011188
The first viewing of the film is lined up for the upcoming PDC at Panya, where I hope to screen it as an information piece looking at the big economic picture.
It is easy to be critical of ones own work. I am happy with the output given the limitations and constraints of the project. I have listed these below;
Bearing all this in mind, I am very happy with the results. I have enough familiarity with the camera to proceed with filming in Indonesia, and know what I need to do to rectify the aspects of production I am unhappy with for future works. (These are listed below at the end of this self evaluation.)
Having a lot of surplas footage is necessary to create smooth transitions and atmospheres. This film was so limited by time we did not really focus on much besides getting the script captured.
The main constraint came in post production, as my little notebook computer is simply uncapable of processing the massive size film clips the camera captures. There are few computers capable of really doing it justice, so it seems an upgrade is important in the future as one of the intentions i have is marrying beautiful cinimatography with good content.
The camera is stunning, and capable of total manual control shooting 1080i High Definition film at 24 frames a second, which is what you see in the latest HD films in cinemas. Its the first SLR camera capable of this and just for example, one two minute clip from the film in raw format is too much for my computer to play back!
To achieve my aims in the next filming endeavour, in Indonesia, I need to address the following points. This will allow the highest quality of film available making it commercially viable should I wish to sell the resulting documentary;
- No access to tripod
- Only kit lense that came with camera
- No seperate microphone, only onboard mono mic
- Unfamiliarity with camera with complex capabilities
- Limited to locations on route
- Time constraints
- No access to computing power for high quality editing
- Michelle (who filmed) had no previous experience with cameras
Bearing all this in mind, I am very happy with the results. I have enough familiarity with the camera to proceed with filming in Indonesia, and know what I need to do to rectify the aspects of production I am unhappy with for future works. (These are listed below at the end of this self evaluation.)
Having a lot of surplas footage is necessary to create smooth transitions and atmospheres. This film was so limited by time we did not really focus on much besides getting the script captured.
The main constraint came in post production, as my little notebook computer is simply uncapable of processing the massive size film clips the camera captures. There are few computers capable of really doing it justice, so it seems an upgrade is important in the future as one of the intentions i have is marrying beautiful cinimatography with good content.
The camera is stunning, and capable of total manual control shooting 1080i High Definition film at 24 frames a second, which is what you see in the latest HD films in cinemas. Its the first SLR camera capable of this and just for example, one two minute clip from the film in raw format is too much for my computer to play back!
To achieve my aims in the next filming endeavour, in Indonesia, I need to address the following points. This will allow the highest quality of film available making it commercially viable should I wish to sell the resulting documentary;
- Broadcast quality shotgun microphone
- Seperate sound recorder
- Wide angle lense for general/ close up/ underwater work
- Quadcore/ High end Mac computer for editing
- Utilise tripod and equipment I already have
- Utilise industry standard editing/ effects software I already have (Need more powerful computer)
Resources
Digiphon
Time Review
- Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein
- Alternatives to economic globalisation, The International Forum on Globalisation
- Shaping Globalisation, Nicanor Perlas
- The Cultural Creatives, Paul Ray and Ruth Anderson
- We, Arundati Roy
- Money as debt
- The Corporation
- The Obama Deception, Alex Jones
- Dave Shaw, PA, Book recommendations
- Mischa Nowicki Film Database
- Google Scholar
Digiphon
- Acer Aspire one Notebook
- Windows Movie Maker
- Canon EOS 7D
- Streamclip file converter
- Vimeo online film presentation
Time Review
- Reading 10 hrs
- Scripting 8 hrs
- Filming 4 hrs
- Editing 4 hrs
- OP Production 2.5 hrs
- Total 28.5 hrs
OP4 Outcomes
Professional
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Learnt to use top line digital film equipment
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Learnt about film editing/ processing
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Learnt about Macro global Economics
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Produced PDC Economics piece
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Focused research skills
Personal
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Deep insight into global finance/ government
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Confidence in chosen direction
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Speed reading skills
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Personal Check- in with ambitions
Project
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Dynamic documenting skills
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Inviting deeper discussion in community
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Community resource
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Deeper connection to Right Livelihood
Hosting "Doomsday" World Cafe
Furthering my work in hosting World Cafes and asking questions that matter. This Cafe was hosted near the beginning of a PDC and was interesting in opening up the group of students to communicating personal hopes and fears. This exercise seemed particularly relevent as a way of offering people a way to gauge how they are relating to "big issues" in relation to the community around them. I found this was more skillful and timely than envisaged as it gave an opportunity for people to release distress and ask for particular support that aided the general learning process during the rest of the course. It set an interesting undertone to the magnitude of the problems we face as a global community, and was a useful "shock" to many of the group which, some reflected, made them more eager to engage and hear various ideas and options.
There were three sessions of questions, which were as follows;
- What do we do if we find out electricity is out as far as we have news from, and it seems like it wont be coming back on, and we are all here together at this Project ?(Panya). There are no computer/ phone/ flights, etc as far as we know...
- How do we organise ourselves and govern the community?
- How do we look after our wellbeing?
Developments as a Teacher- Dec 2009 PDC- Panya Project, Thailand
In December I taught a PDC, leaving Thailand and the Panya Project which had been my home for the last year as the course finished. I learnt a lot dring this course about how my teaching has evolved and changed. I also gained some clear insights regarding how I wish to design courses I teach in the future.
To keep the Appendix brief I shall summarise the key points I have reflected on below;
- I am skillful and knowledgeable enough to explore being flexible in lessons regarding working to a specific schedule
- I am seeing currently that the process of the course is much more important than the content
- I had a lot of resistance to my co- teacher presenting inappropriately strong personal preferences regarding strategies in lessons that I felt should be offered openly for students to make their own minds
- I am fluid enough to gauge the groups energy and respond accordingly
- If courses are run particularly "content" focused, the atmosphere is of haste and potential scarcity
- I am natural to teaching and people enjoy the way I interact
- I want the experience of teaching a course solo, or leading most of it
- I want to find teachers who I feel totally resonant with
- I wish to move resources from "richer" students to "poorer" ones, in this case offering free courses in poorer countries on the back of profits from home courses
- I wish one day to totally open source courses, running them for free and offering perhaps DVDs, online learning.
Leaving the Panya Project
After over a year in the North of Thailand at the Panya Project I left to visit the UK. Leaving my sweetheart Michelle behind, we met again in Bangkok to participate in the EDE course at Wongsanit Ashram.
It is hard to concisely detail all that has happened in this long, challanging, colourful and rewarding year! Below I have listed the achievements that come to mind now, looking back on my experiences. As will be clear, this list aims to include processes and outcomes as equally important achievements;
