Crafting short films

Abstract

In this article, we focus on film making as a part of craft studies and narrative inquiry. Short films were created in a course in the craft teacher master’s degree at the University of Helsinki. The aim of the course was to serve several purposes such as 1) to enable students to become familiar with a new way of deepening conceptual thinking through making, 2) to apply and develop craft skills in working on a selected concept or theme, and 3) to understand the dialogue between conceptual and material artefacts. We explore the opportunities to transmit multisensory experiences via short films. For illustration, we introduce two short films created during the course. Using the deliberative interviewing method, we have broadened the perspective on reflective and analytical level.

Cutting a box hedge with a sickle

“…To document and analyze a craft and not only the objects produced by that craft and to reflect on my own practice, these theoretical concepts led me to use a video in this study. Previous examples of using videos as tools for craft research are found in Camilla Groth (2017), Wuon-Gean Ho (2021), Fernström et al (2021), andSeiler et al (2021), to name a few.…”