Making dreams of safety: A series of online videos
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Published Version
Date
2026-09-04
Authors
Whitby, Richard
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Publisher
Film and Screen Media, University College Cork
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Abstract
This piece is about the making of a YouTube series begun in 2021 called Dreams of Safety, mostly built around recordings of interviews. As the filmmaker, I explain the scope of the work and my approach and assess some of the results. The videos feature people across the world: interviewees have included a flight attendant based in Hong Kong and a former employee of Madame Tussauds, Delhi. I responded to the subjects of the conversations by building audiovisual contexts for them using simple, cheap and environmentally low-impact methods of online video capture and DIY animation. My aim was to work out a way to make experimental videos with other people within the restrictions and fears relating to COVID-19 that still shape social realities. Are there methods that can sustain such practices within other, overlapping crises in future? Is it practical for a visual artist to seek an audience online rather than in galleries and screenings? How can discursive, collaborative filmmaking practices be pursued without a budget or sharing physical space?
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Whitby, R. (2026) 'Making dreams of safety: A series of online videos', Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media, 31, pp. 101–105. https://doi.org/10.33178/alpha.31.08