The Q

BACKGROUND 'The Q' is a short essay film exploring the experience of waiting in lines. There are three factors informing the research in this creative work: 1. The essay film as a form of screen production that is increasing in prominence, with key publications (Corrigan 2011) and major exhibitions appearing (2013 BFI season: 'Thought in Action: The Art of the Essay Film'). This is driven in part by accessible digital technology. 2. The emergence of high quality smartphone cameras that are receiving increasing attention professionally and academically (MINA network http://mina.pro/). Their use in the production of essay films is new. 3. Screen production as an emerging field of academic research, with its practices and methodologies still in development. These factors have led to the following research question for this project: can an essay film shot with a smartphone camera offer a sustainable model for academic screen practice, effectively integrating creative and academic practices in screen production? CONTRIBUTION 'The Q' is an essay film shot entirely with a smartphone. It employs an auto-ethnographic creative practice method to explore social and cultural dimensions of everyday life, using the medium of film to link public experience with academically-informed private reflection. It contributes to the field of academic screen production (see http://www.audiovisualthinking.org/ and http://aspera.org.au/research/sightlines-2/journal/) and is located within discourses of vernacular creativity and mobile media. SIGNIFICANCE The film screened as part of the 2015 MINA International Mobile Innovation Screenings, an international, peer-reviewed series of exhibitions (Wellington, Melbourne, Strasbourg and Skopje). It also screened at Ethnografilm 2016 in Paris (ethnografilm.com), an international festival of academic films whose main purpose is 'the systematic understanding of the social world'.