Bagold

Research Background

How do serious, mature filmmaker/parents engage deeply with their children via the filmmaking art, in a form that is rich and rewarding for both parent and child? Bagold! is the result of a filmmaker/parent’s dilemma to be both a better filmmaker and a better parent.

Collaborating on a film with family is not just a home movie but a family movie. By identifying and utilising the strengths of immediate family members, from project conception to completion, new stories can be produced from a cohesive unit with modest resources. This film explores the concept of no-budget filmmaking and how it aids in building positive family environments and strengthens the parent-child bond through embracing creative endeavours together.

Research Contribution

Sophisticated storytelling knowledge, when strategically combined with a child’s innocent and free-flowing imagination, resulted in a single narrative which reflects the strengths of each of the primary creators. A parenting-centric approach to story development involved me coaching my daughter and son to reflexively examine their own emotions with regards to the writing of the story and the journey of the characters. Following this writing experience, performing their roles achieved an immediate truthfulness, empathy and identification.

Embracing an at-home, family-centric artistic endeavour created a new production methodology, genre and experience: Family-Filmmaking.

Research Significance

Bagold! was peer-selected for inclusion in Flickerfest 2020 (Australia), an Academy Accredited Short Film Festival & BAFTA recognised Film Festival. The film then toured throughout Australia as part of the Flickerfest National Tour, before being purchased by Virigin Airlines as in-flight entertainment on Australian flights.