Chapter 6
Content
Analysis: the collective and the filmmakers
A consideration of the
methodology of content analysis with a focus of the process of unitisation is
undertaken before the actual research is reported. An analysis of attendance at
meetings gives an indication of who was in the Exploding at any time and how
active they were. The intensities in which filmmakers showed at Exploding are
measured and could indicate a democratic approach to a pre-canonic formation.
The proportion of women to men allows us to measure one aspect of accessibility
and compare it to mainstream film production.
Content analysis can be
defined as a research technique that makes inferences from the identification
of objective characteristics within a text. These characteristics can most
simply be measured in terms of quantities. Later researchers, such as
Krippendorff (1980) put more emphasis on the contexts to which inferences are
drawn.[1]
Since the
Sixties content analysis has not become as ubiquitous a research method as the
questionnaire or focus group, which may be due to a lack of agreement on
standard methodologies which has meant that results from different studies are
not comparable.[2] The main
reasons which make content analysis useful are:
* The act of
measurement is unobtrusive and is unlikely to act as a force that will
influence the subject of study.
* As the
method acts on documents from the past, which are unlikely to change, the
cultural indicators derived in such a way can be checked and are likely to
constitute reliable empirical data.
* Data
collected in this systematic way is persuasive and difficult to refute as it is
easily replicable.
On the other
hand the necessary data reduction can destroy nuance and complexity. The
imposition of standard measures and the production of averages flattens
difference and obscures the value of the singular. The idiosyncratic may be
argued to be particularly important in creativity and innovation. And although
the process of measurement may be unobtrusive, the presentation and
interpretation of results can still be made to appear favourable to a
preconceived thesis.
Both these
criticisms are valid only for poor content analysis that is not self-critical
of the limits of its own unitisation and not supplemented with more qualitative
methods. The key question is whether the units counted give a valid measure of
the concept that the researcher associates with them.
Equal
counting is a practical simplification that content analysts believe works well
in most circumstances, but reality is probably much more complicated. (Webber,
1991, p72)
Although such
standardisation is necessary it is important to note the implications of
variations in value. In my analysis of the films shown, each film is valued as
one unit in spite of a wide variation in the types of films and the impact that
they have. Whilst the reduction of a film work to a unit value of one is
obviously a crude mechanism it seems to produce results which are useful if the
limitations of unitisation are kept in view.
Inferences
derived from such totaling must not only be internally valid but must also be
tested within the wider context in which 'the text' exists. It is often these
wider inferences that are more significant but also more vulnerable to
normative reductions. This sort of analysis must entail a qualitative vigilance
to ensure that the objectivity of the method does not obliterate the value or
diversity of its subject.
If the above
limitations are borne in mind content analysis could be particularly useful in
the study of art collectives in that it is suited to the analysis of a large
amount of data that is inevitably thrown up by a large group or 'movement'.
Three aspects
of Exploding Cinema have been investigated using this methodology:
1. Attendance
at meetings (1992 - 1997) has been tracked to give a dynamic picture of the
involvement of various people within the collective. It will be argued that
this gives the best objective indication of the general influence of particular
individuals in the collective, creating a model that can be used as the basis
of discussion in an area that is often emotionally charged. This is based on
recording the attendance at meetings as recorded in the minute books.
2. All the
works shown at Exploding Cinema from 1992 to 1999 have already been recorded in
a catalogue of film-makers and the films they showed, which has been extracted
from the surviving show programmes. From this list data will be extracted on
those filmmakers who have shown most works and whose work has been given repeat
screenings. This shows those who are most energetic in contributing to the main
programme. I also argue that this correlates with the process of canon
formation. This tentative canon formation is then tested and expanded to
include selected makers with one or two films on the list by reference to three
further sources (The Vacuum compilation video and two European tour selections
from 1994 and 1995). The implications of such a construction are then briefly
discussed.
3. The
proportion of men to women both showing and taking part in the collective is
also examined and discussed in relation to the open access policy of the group.
It would be unrealistic to expect an open access policy to compensate for the
inequalities within society but at least it provides an objective measure
against which these issues can be examined, discussed and challenged.
In each case I
will first enter into a more detailed discussion of the units of measurement,
or unitisation and the most likely sources of error.
The following
quantitative assessments give us some insight into the influence of any
individual, canon formation and gender inequality and access. All of these are
key issues for any collective of cultural producers. Conclusions have been
checked against the oral memories of the present collective and others.
A draft of this content analysis of collective membership was circulated to the Exploding Cinema collective. The feedback produced a number of minor corrections, which I will discuss later, but no major challenges to the main personnel.