Filmmaker, Adam Robertson's response to the archive

We asked three artists to respond to the Moments in Time archive, Fine Artist, Carol Harries-Wood, Storyteller, Maria Whatton and Filmmaker, Adam Robertson.

Adam Robertson is both a long-established filmmaker and creative mentor working with the Derbyshire Virtual School. Adam is one of the founders of Film City, a non-profit digital media development company with over 15 years experience of creating and collaborating within industry, education and arts settings. Working within a key ethos of social pedagogy, each digital project they deliver often combines a diverse team of professionals, artists, students and clients all sharing in the process to produce innovative social research, digital stories, documentaries, resources, showcases, portfolios and screening events.

Adam wrote this piece for us to share his experience of making the film in response to and to celebrate the Moments in Time project and archive.

“As the film editor on this project, I was lucky enough to be given a wide range of creative work made both before and during the first year COVID-19 pandemic by young people in care. Some of this work related directly to the pandemic itself, some of it was from projects remembering the moon landings in 1969, and there was also a whole range of work that was just people finding ways to continue to be creative within the restrictions of nationwide lockdowns. “

“The creative work came in many different forms, including films, photographs, drawings, artwork, music and audio recordings. The brief was to create a film using material from this creative library of work. The common thread for the film would be provided by storyteller Maria Whatton, who wrote a wonderful poetic story inspired by the work of the young people. We then captured Maria telling her story on camera and she became the the film’s onscreen guide to take us on a wonderful journey of exploration through the creative work. “

“The film also includes the thoughts and artistic processes of Carol Harries-Wood, who used the creative work as inspiration to make an art piece that would act as a signifier for the whole project.”

“Editing a film is a very creative process in itself, and the nature of this film meant that I had lots of wonderful creative decisions to make along the way, and was lucky to have so much fantastic creative work made by the young people to use throughout the film.”

“As well as being a filmmaker, I am also a Creative Mentor. It is a hugely interesting and extremely diverse role, of which I think the main aspects are to have positive experiences, think that anything is possible, play and try new things, let your mind roam wherever it leads and to think and talk freely. The creative work that comes out of these sessions is original, often surprising, wonderfully organic and most importantly a way to express your feelings and thoughts which can be so important for mental health and well being. This is what you are seeing in the film … “