Making Dreams of Safety—A Series of Online Videos

Whitby, Richard (2026) Making Dreams of Safety—A Series of Online Videos. Alphaville. ISSN 2009-4078

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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