About Misc Pro

There is a change in the way information is accessed on the Internet. And as more and more information is being digitised and mapped, its connectivity has made it possible to browse and explore material in a way never done before. We can approach knowledge quickly and effectively from a vague and narrow understanding of a particular topic and come away empowered. David Weinberger describes this as a change in the authority of information. Citing Wikipedia as an example, the bottom-up encyclopaedia is being written democratically by anyone who has interest, access to and time for the Internet. And as the number of articles contributed increase, knowledge continues to become more accessible. The mapping of knowledge in this way is helping to create a more honest representation of the world and one that we can all admire and engage with.

The history of the lens is saturated with numerous people thinking up ingenious devices to extend their operation of it. John G Albright mounted several still cameras to a horizontal bicycle wheel to create a device capable of documenting lighting strikes. The BBC in the early 1990s used for the first time a stump cam during an SCG test match between Australia and Pakistan. A camera installed in the middle stump of the wicket, gave spectators a perspective of cricket as never seen before. Vinten, an industry brand name that nowadays produce tripods and studio pedestals, began in the 1920s to design and build high-speed gun and reconnaissance cameras for the Royal Air Force. Steven Spielberg, for the film Saving Private Ryan, strapped a camcorder to a drill and used the vibrations from drilling while filming to illustrate how he wanted his shots to shake during bomb explosions. And it was Stanley Kubricks signature shot, a long following of his characters that eventually had him employ Garrett Browns camera stabiliser in The Shining.

Not only do filmmakers find their own solutions to problems when they need to, many of today’s standard film industry equipment began as innovative and crafted prototypes, either dealing with specific problems on specific sets or having been applied in less then ordinary disciplines. In this history, the convergence of practices forms a pool of knowledge and resources that Misc Pro finds suitable to borrow, mimic and innovate from.

Misc Pro is an evolving multifaceted art practice that has chosen to engage with the history of the lens and use the semblance of a production company to facilitate creativity and interconnected disciplines.

The most constant outcome of Misc Pro is the application of furniture-making techniques and woodworking practices to the fabrication of bespoke and alternative film equipment; such as a body harness made from recycled wood and MDF, a guitar tripod for the flamboyant rock star or a compactable animation rostrum and dismantlable camera dolly, both of which demonstrate joinery principles. These and other devices are employed in movie and animation lessons, enhancing the filming and animating processes when the equipments are not normally accessible. Misc Pro also functions as a filmmaking entity, which uses the equipment it builds and applies the lessons it teaches, exploring collective community practices and producing artists’ documentaries, comedies and wildlife films.