How Gregory Coyes, the Indigenous Digital Filmmaking Program Coordinator encourages students to make media on their own terms
Sara Brinkac (any) // Co-Editor-In-Chief
Around sunrise, in a tranquil scene of flowing water, through soft morning haze, you may find Gregory Coyes. He would be the man of Metis/Cree descent who is sitting silently at the shore of the lake, with a camera set up beside him, watching, listening and being with nature while he lets the camera record. After a few minutes, you might expect him to stop recording, maybe move his camera around on the tripod or pick up to another location. Instead, he remains still. Like the camera, like the setting, simply observing nature unfold in real time. While some may find this inaction odd, to filmmakers in the Slow Media Community it is not only typical, but powerful.
“Slow Media is the practice of being present through your camera,” Coyes now sits in his Capilano University office, where he works as the Indigenous Digital Filmmaking (IDF) Program Coordinator; In the corner of the room a fan hums, drying out a book of his that got wet the day prior, Coyes repeats, “it’s not a skill, it’s a practice.”
To a Slow Media practitioner this means attempting to create “still frame long form video” that captures the essence of an environment in “real time.” This real time Coyes refers to is the pace of nature, especially temporal references that surpass our lifespans. Coyes notes his, “long standing fascination with glaciology … dynamic elemental processes that have shaped and continue to shape the Earth,” as a personal temporal reference, and one he attempts to relate to in Slow Media. This sense of “real time” allows the audience to connect to our natural world in ways not typically found in advertisements, sitcoms, viral videos or any other colonized media which are more concerned with compressing time to capitalize on attention and turn profit.
When considering Slow Media and its goal of documenting the beauty of nature, it is clear there is no clear-cut skill to develop, rather, a practice of relation and patience. When asked when exactly the idea for Slow Media arose, Coyes didn’t answer with an exact instance but instead conjured a history.
“It goes through documentary … which is a really powerful basis for [Indigenous peoples].” Names like Zacharius Kunuk, Alanis Obomsawin, Willie Dunn and Gil Cardinal were brought up with great respect. Especially Kunuk, a filmmaker from Igloolik, Nunavut whose widely acclaimed and inspirational film Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner retells an Inuit legend and skillfully weaves in the central character to many Indigenous stories–nature. By using uninterrupted shots of characters moving through landscapes, with the sun and specific seasons as the reference for time, Kunuk allowed audiences to experience what Coyes refers to as “real time.” This sense of time is in direct contrast to the quick cuts from locations, days and scenes one would find in the compressed time of Hollywood content concerned with maximising information. So it was, this simple, yet radical decision to record “real time” set Coyes on the path of Slow Media.
Coyes also noted the inception of high definition (HD) cameras as another major influence on the creation of Slow Media. In May 2000, at Hollyhock Retreat Centre on Cortes Island, B.C., Coyes had his, “first experience of high definition imagery,” where he witnessed a video of, “the surrounding forest that was extraordinary and remarkably engaging.” Aware he was having, “an emotional reaction to the images of nature on the screen,” he knew he came across a powerful new medium to both relate to our natural world and continue to create “decolonized media.”
With many communities and influences, Slow Media materialized. In 2010, Coyes picked up the camera and continued developing the practice, he began to define Slow Media, create parameters, navigate issues and discover audiences, all the while connecting deeply with the natural world. As the practice developed the creation of a Slow Media community did too, and in 2019 Coyes wrote his Masters Thesis on the Slow Media Community, where he defined the interests of the community, outlined the influences of previous Indigenous filmmaking communities and explored the future applications of the Slow Media Community. Below is an excerpt which distinctly outlines the community’s and Coyes’ intentions in the realm of filmmaking, in it he writes:
“At its essence, Slow Media Community invites both producers and viewers to be more conscious of the process of making and viewing media. It asks us to slow down and be present to the process of gathering and then sharing a sustainable and dynamic resource, the power and beauty of the Earth, and the elements at work on the Earth. This depiction of “real time” in nature is offered as an alternative to the compressed timelines and accelerated concept delivery of the majority of mainstream media … This is decolonized media. Slow Media is an Indigenous expression of cinematic time and place.” — “Slow Media Community: Decolonized Media, The Camera as Witness” Gregory Coyes, 2019, UBC MFA Thesis
And here lies the power of the Slow Media Community; the courage to create, explore and build discourse outside of mainstream media. For Coyes, this is decolonization in media, and it doesn’t just exist within the Slow Media Community, but carries into the classrooms of the IDF program, into the consciousness of Motion Picture Arts (MOPA) students and is beginning to enter productions outside of school.
Students in the IDF program are taking on Slow Media projects as the foundation of their learning. They learn to understand how to create a visually compelling frame and build this skill with patience. They are also developing the clarity to relate to their environment when creating, rather than the typical, fevered pace of film productions, which is already a significant stance of change. Slow Media and Indigenous methods of film production are also entering MOPA classrooms as Coyes offers third-year students a lecture on Slow Media in Canadian Cinema, helps teach and grades fourth-year courses and continues to work with faculty in order to develop and introduce new practices.
A typical film set is a scene of barely contained chaos. Many move in a frenzy, a constant pressure hangs over every member which results in fast choices, little consideration of sustainability and damage to follow. It isn’t a wonder why the final product of the media is often dated with insensitivity and destruction when there is such little peace of mind to consider one’s actions in the storm of creation. Now, with Coyes backed by a strong history, making patient and consistent efforts, one might walk upon a different scene on an IDF or MOPA film set.
It is the morning of filming, everyone gathers around, exhausted from long hours, many projects and a tight timeline. Rather than the Assistant Director going through the rehearsed lines of safety guidelines, schedule and rushing to start the day, everyone circles, feels where they are standing and one asks: “How were your last nine hours since we saw you? How can we help you today to make this production successful?” Everyone takes a breath. And perhaps, for a moment, feel inexplicably connected to the natural world.
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Want to give Slow Cinema a try? Grab a camera, your phone will do, compose a nicely framed shot that is a minimum 2 minutes long, perhaps consider one or two additional angles which can be minimum 30 seconds and share it with your community! Look to the SLOW MEDIA COMMUNITY Vimeo for more inspiration and be sure to check out The Courier’s January zine for more tips and tricks <3
