Local Polar

Local Polar is an original artistic project on a territorial scale, a participatory creation that ultimately takes the form of a cine-concert where all the ingredients are developed in collaboration with participants, partners, and local resources (schools, music schools, community centers, interviews with residents, municipal and departmental archives). Planned over a medium to long timeframe (from a few months to an academic year), Local Polar is an opportunity to engage with a key discipline of the collective's activity: the cine-concert. In this case, all the stages that make up the collective work are carried out with different participants: composing and performing the music for the images, writing the script, selecting the shots, creating characters and dialogues, choosing filming locations, and creating sound effects.

This artistic residency aims to involve schools, colleges, residents, local actors, musicians, heritage, and local initiatives to bring to sound and image the imagination of participants through a cinematic genre (here, the detective film), using collections and gathering of local stories. Workshops in singing, sound effects, image education, scriptwriting, and film music all contribute to creating an original and unique moment. For the Community of Communes of Ambert-Livradois-Forez (63), we presented this unique work at the Jardin pour la Terre in Arlanc on June 11, 2022.

On the ARFI side, several participants cover the entire process:

• A video artist leads a series of workshops with middle or high school students. Sensitive to image education, they lead workshops to introduce various forms of video production, enabling participants to sharpen their critical eye and unlock their creativity. Writing workshops are then offered, based on local stories, family histories, or significant elements of the region. The technical aspect is also central to these workshops: audio and video recording techniques, field recording, sound effects, and camera use.

• A musical team offers tailor-made compositions to students and apprentice musicians from the region. The students develop their ensemble playing skills while discovering the specifics of music for film, especially in the context of a cine-concert. They have the opportunity to alternate between playing from a specially designed score for their level and improvisation sessions led by ARFI musicians. Each project adapts to the learning context and needs. During the workshops, they are invited to explore the relationship between image and music to select the appropriate timbres, colors, and moods for each scene of the film.