Thirteenth International Conference on The Image

Abstract

Life in Quarantine, an experimental documentary film, produced during the days of lockdown in Lahore by crowd-sourcing. In March 2020, the cases of Covid 19 had increased in the city of Lahore, and most of the people have been blocked to their houses for almost the whole year. It’s a unique situation, where the usual daily life activities have been reduced to minimum, and that specific phase of living is documented through this practice-based research project. This documentary was planned with the involvement of the students of art, design and film bound in their homes. They have been contacted through social media participatory platforms; WhatsApp, and Facebook. In the framework of participatory culture at national level, a brief was given to the participants to make a video clip, with the available technology available, to share a slice from a specific day during the lockdown. More than fifty participants have responded and submitted video clips and these clips are compiled to make a final six-minute collective documentary film; Life in Quarantine. This research paper analyzes the opportunity of online crowdsourcing for the activity of making video clips, the potential of the medium of film in engaging individuals and investigates the relationship between the collective innovation and the individual creativity of the participants.