#13

1.

We were returning home late the other night and came upon a strange scene on a Brooklyn street corner. An older woman, white haired, wearing large black glasses, such as those that often denote blindness (there was a cane as well), stood very still on that corner. She was surrounded by people from that neighborhood; they were asking her questions about where she had come from, about where she was going; she had an address, but no one could tell where, specifically, this place was. They had cell phones, they were doing their best to help. Wee kept walking; there didn't seem to be that much more that we could do. In the safety of our apartment, perhaps to alleviate how unsettled we really were, we began to think about procedures for a hypothetical film.

2.

These notes may be considered a procedure towards a film project. This film, if produced, may cause certain ethical hazards, in addition to certain physical hazards which should be evident from our descriptions. To which we only know ho to say - these dangers will have to be considered by those who chose to attempt completion of these procedures.

First
A volunteer will be selected from a pool of applicants, the criteria being as follows -
-She must be blind
-She must qualify for senior citizen status
-She must agree to sign each and every legal document required by out attorneys

This volunteer will take part in the following procedure.

Second

She will be given a wire tap, placed on an urban street corner in the dead of night, more or less between one and four in the morning. A camera crew, carefully concealed, will follow her "actions" at all times.The live feed from the wire tap will be sent to two locations - to the members of the camera crew (for reasons of security, more or less, and to a "command center" in a remote location from the site of filming. The blind volunteer will constantly relay, at a period of every five minutes or less (hopefully more constant, but we need to give her enough time for more elaborate descriptive passages if she so desires), describing in as"accurate" detail as possible just what she is hearing from moment to moment. This verbal description is the extent of what she is allowed to say; even in the instance that she is being quizzed by a concerned passer-by (what's your name? Are you alright?), she will not be allowed to offer any verbal information that cannot be described with the words - "an exact verbal summary of her moment to moment auditory experience."

Third

It must be to the camera crew's discretion when to interfere; they can only do so once, since as soon as they do so the filming is over and the project must be completed by what material has been gathered thus far. The volunteer must be instructed not to leave the spot, unless a moment of crisis occurs. As in many role eplay scenarios, there will be a "safe word" which will immediately terminate the fantasy at the point where it becomes physically or emotionally dangerous. If the period of filming must be terminated in such a fashion a separate testimonial by the volunteer explaining the rationale behind her decision must be arranged and recorded. This is the only scenario in which such a testimonial will be used in this project, and while this scenario may prove to be unavoidable, it should still be considered a near "last resort."

Fourth

The presentation of this procedure opens up a number of possibilities to explore. We suggest that the presentation works more or less as follows - the audio recorded straight from our volunteer's wire tap, separated and selected into different moments of description, grouped together by theme and texture more than anything else (especially chronology). This audio may be presented over black; it may be presented in accompaniment with footage of the camera crew listening, or of the crew in the remote location listening and logging; perhaps there could be a combination of the two. The audio portions would then be presented in an alternating series with the actual video (more or less in act chronological match with the audio as such), presented MOS, but with additional scoring recorded after the fact. The alternate option would be to record an additional set of testimonies from crew members, which would play in part over the footage they've shot.

Fifth

The solution to the problem of how to present the results of this procedure is one we hestitate in any sense to call definitive; this may in fact be one project that does not correspond to such a play. We may well suggest that, due to its emphasis placed already on blindness and sound, that whoever takes the project on their shoulders try, simply put, to listen carefully to the results as recorded. It may be there, after all, that the answer will present itself. That may sound like an evasive answer, and we would consider that maybe it is. Perhaps some procedures require a vague or evasive conclusion. In fact, a project born so specifically from disquiet may be inherently compromised from the outset; the existence of a pre-existing emotional state always creates the danger of suggesting a "narrative arc" entirely other than the material experience of the procedure. If it becomes apparent that this is indeed the case, we would suggest the project be gracefully shelved and ended.