Film: And Violet (Single Component supported by contextual information)
- Submitting institution
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Edinburgh Napier University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 2271881
- Type
- Q - Digital or visual media
- Publisher
- -
- Month
- February
- Year
- 2017
- URL
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https://portfolios.napier.ac.uk/view/view.php?t=eDhEBwcsQxyNa6pj2rMY
- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- Yes
- Number of additional authors
-
-
- Research group(s)
-
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This research project consists of a feature film And Violet (2017) and contextual information, written and directed by the author. It is a coming of age drama about the interwoven and unravelling lives of teenage daughter Violet, her adoptive Mum and birth Mum. The film engages with delineations between fiction and non-fiction narratives within film-making, and includes Gray’s interest in the significance of anonymity in story-telling when collaborating with vulnerable individuals and communities. Research processes involved collaborating with adoption charity Scottish Adoption (SA), to create training materials, which were informed by ‘real’ case studies and that were anonymised into a fictional narrative screenplay. Processes included the creation of a fictional Form-E (legal document about the child in the film) that is now used in an unredacted form (unlike ‘real’ exemplars) for training purposes. Within a wider question regarding collaboration with third sector organisations and its influence on creative writing processes, the research asks how similarities between processes undertaken by social workers while gathering information during case work, and the practices undertaken by screenwriters when researching character and story, can be successfully combined to create meaningful and impactful narratives. Research methodologies created a participatory process that empowered and authenticated the voices and lived experiences of the individuals involved. The story includes fictionalised first-person narratives, created with the input of SA, including adopted teenagers, adoptive parents and a mother of an adopted child. Alongside international screenings, the film was screened by the adoption and fostering sector to audiences including at Adoption Week Scotland (2017) and the Scottish Parliament (2018). The combination of film, Form-E and supporting materials, constitutes a multifaceted training product, allowing for engagement with a wider user base, creating greater awareness of contemporary adoption practices, and the complex issues of open adoption and contact between adoptive families and birth relatives.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -