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The first rule of DOCMA Club is: DOCMA is a five-minute collaborative documentary film The second rule of DOCMA Club: Its made by five filmmakers on one theme Third rule of DOCMA: Each film is made in a different documentary style Fourth rule: Films should be made in isolation from the other filmakers Fifth: DOCMA is then shown as a complete film. Early Wednesday morning I made my way to Woodend Barn in Banchory to take part in a documentary making workshop. The workshop was led by the filmmaker Anne Milne. Anne introduced the class to the rules of DOCMA and explained how the DOCMA Collective grew out of a collaboration with DocKlub, a monthly support group for documentary filmmakers based in Edinburgh, Scotland. In preparation for the workshop we each brought a single word theme, that may or may not be chosen. A lottery then ensued to decide our groups, theme and documentary styles. Just over two hours later we parted company with a deadline of four days to film, edit and upload our one minute films. The completed films will be uploaded at a future date to the DOCMA website.  Very early Sunday morning I was up and ready to navigate my way to the small East Coast fishing village of Anstruther in Fife. My close friends will understand my anxiety: I find it very difficult to follow directions. Luckily I had a guide, Google Maps. Even with my trusted guide at hand I set off early because I was worried about finding a parking space. Anstruther is a popular tourist destination. I arrived a little past 9am and successfully found a parking space. Five minutes later my friend Donald arrived in the same car park. Not a coincidence as we had planned to meet up and take photos together. To satisfy our analogue addictions we both obviously brought along a number of cameras.
We had a lovely day exploring, taking photographs and catching up on each others news. It is easy to take photographs with Donald. I do not have to apologise for stopping off mid conversation to immerse myself in an exposure that has presented itself to me. I understand too when he does the same to me. Meeting is an opportunity for me also to greedily furnish knowledge from this clever modest man. The sun shone brightly, so brightly that I was unable to make pinhole exposures as my calculations were coming out at a second. I did however have success with my Canon AS-6 underwater camera. Not only did it not leak but it produced sublime effervescent dreamy prints. I cannot express how excited I am to go playing with it again soon!  I know! I cant help it. Every coastal visit I am compelled to search the tide line for treasure. So as not to be a boring companion I curtailed my addiction by allowing myself just one find. The remainder of our day was spent in the Anstruther Museum followed by fish and chips for lunch, then finishing off our films. I found my way home........ |