Author: Melania Mihalcea / Halmstad University
Co-creative filmmaking is an iterative design ethnographic method that we are developing within the GREEN-LOG user-centred Urban Living Lab approach. It involves collaborating with users on creating videos that integrate their perspectives into the design process in a way that offers more inclusive and accessible opportunities for self-representation.
A defining part of this method is the user involvement in the post-production process. This is an essential step, which not only ensures that the resulting video is considered an accurate representation, but also naturally invites a more detailed reflection on its contents, which provides additional insights and learnings derived from the process.
It creates communication channels between stakeholders, for example, between end users and technical developers of the solutions. For a multi-city EU project like GREEN-LOG, it is also a way for the Living Labs and follower cities to learn more about how GREEN-LOG solutions are being implemented in each other’s contexts by seeing it in action.
The Oxfordshire Living Lab – A Concrete Example
As the first demonstration round was unfolding in the Oxfordshire Living Lab, we engaged with stakeholders from various parts of the GREEN-LOG project through co-creative filmmaking.
A key area of Oxfordshire’s GREEN-LOG activities is the e-cargo bike Logistics Service Provider, Pedal & Post. Introducing a camera into the scene created an opportunity for engagement by acting as a first point of contact between the staff – be they couriers, mechanics, managers, or others- and the GREEN-LOG project.
The questions that naturally arose, like “Why a film?” “What would it be about?” and “Who is going to watch it?” were opportunities for them to find out more about the project, and also a chance to see themselves in relation to it. This contextualizes the changes that they are experiencing in their work environment – such as the introduction of the Micro-Consolidation Centre that has been actively in use since its installation during the demonstration round – and it also helps them see that it is not just the project that affects them, but they in turn have the capacity to affect the project, and as a result, the direction in which the changes in their work environment would go.
The Micro-Consolidation Centre has been in use since its installation on 8th November 2024
The opportunity to film in itself also has a low barrier of entry; with the presence of a researcher with filmmaking experience on site, co-creative filmmaking becomes an easy and accessible experience. There was no need for interrupting their work either- in fact, many couriers and mechanics opted for recording a conversation as they worked. Reviewing the footage afterwards is equally convenient – it can be as simple as reacting to a draft created by the researcher, and making decisions on what should be kept, edited out, or added. In addition, the flexibility in format for co-creative filmmaking means that those who do have experience in handling a camera or editing, or those who simply have an interest in it, can engage further and take over as much of the technical parts of production as they’d like.
A courier and a mechanic engaging through co-creative filmmaking during their working day
As part of the main goal of integrating user perspectives into the design process, ensuring that their views reach the technical developers is an important step. In the Oxfordshire Living Lab, one of the demonstrations involved a presentation and discussion of GREEN-LOG’s day-to-day demand prediction component between one of the lead developers of the component, Dr Matthew Hocking, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Wolverhampton, and the CEO and founder of Pedal & Post, Christopher Benton.
Matthew and Christopher discussing the day-to-day demand prediction module in the office at the Pedal & Post depot
This meeting was recorded, and a draft of a video was created that integrated comments and insights from couriers relevant to the component being discussed. As such, when the footage was reviewed together with Christopher, Matthew, and Graham (Oxfordshire Living Lab Leader), they automatically also reviewed the couriers’ perspectives in the project. This is one of the many ways in which co-creative filmmaking closes the loop by ensuring that user voices reach and have a direct impact on the next iteration of the technology.
