The Dynamic Duo (Television documentary film): broadcast television documentary. Commissioned by BBC Wales

Broadcast television documentary. Commissioned by BBC Wales (with recognised scope for network distribution) November 2018.

Filming March 2019 for transmission June 2019. This observational documentary film produced and directed by David Barnes and Sebastian Bruno via their production company Birdhouse Films in collaboration with production company Wales and Co.

Research Context: The research context of the project is a questioning and subverting of dominant media narratives through a reflexive mode of documentary television. The particularity and distinctiveness of social experience in the south Wales valleys region will be engaged through collaboration with a group of local journalists who are producing a small print newspaper. The research will consider the shifting roll of local print journalism in narrating lived experience in Wales in relation to the ubiquity of digital based modes of storytelling.

The research focuses on the community of Blaenau Gwent in the south Wales valleys. Dominant media narratives highlight it as both one of the poorest regions in northern Europe- recipient of significant EU funding- and the region highest percentage of ‘Leave’ vote in Wales (62%) in the 2016 EU referendum. A myopic focus on this ‘ungrateful irony’ in the media has led to miss-representations that have precluded the emergence of nuanced stories, obscuring factual complexities.

Research Imperatives: Documentary film will be used as a mode of enquiry to explore developing themes of local and regional cultural identity against the backdrop of the final stages of the Brexit process. Through an intimate and immersive approach to television production, the research will consider the continuing validity and potential of local journalism in questioning dominant modes of representation. The research strategy is intended to construct a documentary offering diverse audiences greater understanding and social experience in Wales, across linguistic and geographic boundaries and encouraging debate within a wider cultural sector.