Rough cuttings and rights of reply

August 30, 2008 at 12:17 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

So, all the interviews are in and, if I were in an actual cutting room instead of a digital bubble, I would have reels of tape lapping a my feet and would probably be minus a few fingers from all that splicing. Instead, today I face the daunting rask of opening up Adobe Audition and cracking on with a timeline.

As it’s been a while since I last blogged, I’ll fill you in (at this point “you” probably means my parents, who secretly just want to ensure i’m not having such a good time over here i’ll never come home, Charlotte, Peter and perhaps Dr Denis).

I managed to interview three of the four key interviewees I set out to get – not bad, considering Dr Hawass ended up in the “done” pile. As it happens, Jaclyn Pyatt – my first real contact in this whole project – was the contributor who absolutely would not get her voice recorded…and in the very end, stopped replying to my emails.

My project has shifted slightly – i’ve now narrowed my focus: the ca-ah-ash being made from Egyptian artifacts in the hadns of foreign museums, and it also examines how much longer they should remain in these foreign hands.

I’ve also narrowed down my audience: ABC Radio National, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation network which broadcasts about 60 programs right accross the country. Currently, Radio National’s “broadcast footprint” covers 98% of the Australian population – using 260 different transmitters to reach people who, quite literally, live in the middle of nowhere.

The show i’ve decided to pinpoint is Rear Vision – a History program, which goes out at 1pm on Sundays. It looks at the historical context, or the back story, of news items – such as the ongoing battle by Australian Aboriginal and Maori peoples to have their ancestral remains repatriated and returned from within the basements of Britian’s many state museums, including the BM.

Thus, I am using the current state of flux between requests and recognition at the British Museum as my point of commonality between dramas at the BM and in Cairo and a listener in their 1989 Holden Camira driving down the Stuart Highway on a Sunday afternoon in Aus.

I plan to start my documentary with clips of the Australians and Kiwis I voxed outside the British Museum (more difficult than you would think, as Aussies don’t generally identify themselves as such…I mean, in a group of Italian tourists at least one of them will be decked out in azzuri blue with ‘Italia’ plastered on them). I also intend to use Australian music to coaz the listener into the topic…. ‘Beds are Burning’ by Midnight Oil should fit well with my audience, and also with the overall feel of Radio National.

Plus, how could Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ ‘Red Right Hand’ not be perfect for Dr Hawass?

He’s a god, he’s a man,
he’s a ghost, he’s a guru
They’re whispering his name
through this disappearing land…

Brilliant. Plus the track has some amazing instrumental breaks. Aside form the music, and back to Dr Hawas… I think that will certainly be one of the most amazing interviews I do for a very, very long time. He started it all my causing a scene in the lobby at the Marriott in Mayfair, and informing the concierge that there were far too many children in the hotel and he would never stay there again. Also, he swanned around like he was god’s gift. Then he confirmed my suspicions by explaining to me in the interview that was, in fact, god’s gift to archaeology.

I want to tell you one thing that people can say. In the past Egypt face was explained by foreigner. Now for the first time Egypt face explained by an Egyptian, and this bother many people (loud). But in the same time God give me a gift – the gift is how I give sound bytes about our monuments. I think that they won’t take this gift back from me. I never try to compete with anyone, I’m just trying to present Egypt in a good way, and this really bothers lots of people, but what I want to say, that I’m trying to make another Zahi Hawass then if I leave antiquities will be good other people who follow my steps.

And, of course, this wasn’t the only subjective sentiment Dr Hawass expressed…. He made a number of inferences about the British Museum, their staff, their style of diplomacy, the legitimacy of their acquisitions (handling stolen goods?) and also the entire body of work of Dr JoAnn Fletcher (my internal defamation alarm was in overdrive….).

This called for a very tactful Right of Reply email addressed to Head of Media and PR at the British Museum!

And while all of the things Dr Hawass said had my attention from the minute he told me what he had for breakfast, I need to remember what it is that i’m aiming for in my documentary. Relics. Profits. Egypt. Do not get sidetracked….

…at least, if I do get sidetracked it should be in the interests of my project. I couldn’t resist a wee bit of cinematic indulgence. And it was staring me in the face at every tube stop. So much so that I whipped out the camera…

Still, could I EVER have imagined paying 10.50 for a cinema ticket?!

Uh, no. Amy J.

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