James Barnett

0:06 Thank you for that very validating welcome everybody and thank you very much it's nice that for having me here oh my goodness I'm going to move this cuz I'm a bit taller than everyone else there we go right here we go we've got to remember to press buttons If ever there's like anything on the screen that's not on there you need to just shout me that something's missing so first of all my name is James Barnett I've had quite a lot of different jobs in the creative Industries across the years from basically everything like production management for window displays head of design at a retail design agency some photography commissions and I've even been a doctor who trailer editor but in a parallel universe I am a successful filmmaker for about 15 years I've been documenting my mom and dad some of you might have come across them before but tonight I'm going to give you a bit of an in-depth look at the project and more recently talk about how I made them Tik Tok famous very accidentally so without further ad Ado let's meet the parents one two three so this is my mom and dad hello Michael corn beef and Theresa absolutely froze was that all right I don't know he's a retired company director why don't you do it tighter you know shorter I don't want it shorter and an obsessive compulsive cleaner you know I'm not done it you didn't really do it did you with way too much time on his hands what's happening with the soap you're not wasting and this is my mother a camp icon your hair is such a it's shocking at the moment it really is it's like she's giving you sideb burning thing very odd who's a bit of an enigma unseen work I do that you don't know about and a full-time feeder anybody else for beans for over 15 years I've been documenting their lives you back off with that bloody thing by either filming them you're filming something.

1:54 But I don't know what interviewing them come on then you two where are we we didn't need to come for another photographing them every time you film me I wear the same cardigan I've now ended up with this Archive of totally inconsequential material oh this is me dad you yeah car that can be quite funny you find things in Morrison you never find in tesos weirdly surreal do you want a bit more you can eat it and kind of grotesque Michael you're so vulgar good evening to everyone attending tonight's nicer Tuesday's event we're sorry we can't be at Earth in dwon with you this evening look at that we hope you like this presentation put together by our wonderfully talented stylish and very employable son so please sit back relax and enjoy the rest of the [Applause]

2:59 talk thank you so on the surface my parents seem sort of ordinary but they're actually kind of unusual next year they'll have been married for 60 years. And I am the youngest of their nine kids I think that they always felt like I was incomplete somehow and I think that's because I was gay they always kept my old bedroom ready for me at home they never like put it away when I left the house and I have not lived with them for about 18 years in 2007 when I was a student at Central St Martin's on their performance design course that is me oh my god I started recording my parents in performance situations and I would get them to like reenact what I'd been doing in class when I watched them back I became really aware of the language Rhythm and intonation of how they presented themselves and it lent itself to creating these video skits almost like script scripted sitcoms I then realized that I also had this knack for video editing at the same time.

4:03 And so I basically started to assemble these short films about them and basically I never stopped doing it my main takeaway from this is that you should never throw away any of your original ideas like many dads Michael is automatically Furious when he gets behind the wheel are you taking my picture again you it's like he's in a constant state of vehicular anxiety there's still one more person where the hell are they RSE they next that car I can't get out of it and he takes every pothole very personally bloody Road road is he's had to endure my mom's cooking for nearly 60 years me what are we going to eat then what should we do I don't know spaghetti bolognaise quick oh I do know something. That's nice sweet and sour happy Christmas you must be joking oh you all right we could hear you making a funny noise to wear my ass was stra on the bottom of the bath I think my mom is best described as unpredictable just give it a well hold it ♪

5:10 up she's excellent at recounting stories did you read all that in the paper that we're supposed to have more you know they said five a day they're saying 10 a day now it's Madness imagine not take sweet an orange and because of my mother we are a family of pudding lovers lovely treat afterwards tiasu there's also crumble if you what we having with Christmas pudding I'm not going without food I'm just cutting down the portions small I did much smaller dinner than you fin read a dinner so more recently I've come to terms with the fact that I've got quite an obsessive personality and I don't mean that in like a really crazy malevolent way but more in a need to be in control of the narrative I'm usually always armed with a camera or some kind of video recording device and I'm just like casually documenting quite mundane daily moments I find recording and editing a form of meditation in some ways and putting together images really helps me make sense of the world around me.

6:06 And so 15 years later I've inadvertently created this slightly extraordinary Time Capsule of everyday life at the start of 2023 I think actually it's like a year ago to the day I randomly decided to upload one of these old videos onto Tik Tok and by total surprise it did really well and got a million views and and then the next one did two and so suddenly when my parents became quite famous on Tik Tok you want ice cream apple crumble it's a Swiss rooll Min P Pon anybody want any cheese anybody else Scot Che I don't know how to screen grab at all you just did it I know I did it.

6:46 But I don't know how I did it what's the name of that shop where she bought it fat face oh fat face it was a posst shop light really good on you n e o n yeah I wouldn't call that a guas look who's this bloke Martin clue oh Mar Co did I have it of course you bloody did what is that to be a is that a spider is it a little fly came right up near me I can't help it it's on my paper give it to me is it charged up to work it is Victor nck were worth 16,000 qu but her deity seat was only worth 500 CH the word is in tone Oh yeah you don't have nothing about anything smile smile smile what did you say off our 10 months on Tik Tok has been quite an experience that's my mom meeting a real life Tik Tok fan I was I'd been initially hesitant to share the work on this platform because I was worried it might reduce the Artistry of the project but like depending on how you measure results with views like what I was getting it is without doubt the most success that I think I'm ever going to have I think the videos have resonated with this audience because my parents from that last generation of people who are truly authentic and they do not they are like indifferent behind a camera they simply do not care if they're being recorded people really dislike that ins insincere fake authentic genre on social media it's like the worst and I think my parents are the opposite to that they are like anti- influencers so my parents were really suspicious about the videos being shared but they quickly came around to the idea when we saw some of the really heartfelt and honest responses from our audience stuff which we could never have predicted here are just some of like the memorable comments that I've received originally I had a whole page of like statistics here.

8:35 But I'm think I'm going to just read you this DM that I received last week instead so I've never DMD anyone here before.

8:41 But I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your parents with us I lost mine 10 years ago.

8:45 And I missed them beyond all measure but watching yours takes me back to all the Glorious family times we shared they are so similar in their personalities and in their Dynamic with one another and their family nearly every video that you've posted makes me cry because it reminds me of what I've lost but more importantly it makes me smile because they remind me of what I had which is really sweet and like I was quite taken back by that message I have to say so of course there can be a small price to pay for internet fame and and I would describe Tik Tok as being like the most universal but also deeply personal social media experience of them all because the algorithm is just absolutely insane and yeah I've been recognized on certain platforms this is also a video of a zoom call that I had because we were asked by a brand if we wanted to do a partnership with them and my God I will post it one day because it's absolutely ridiculous.

9:43 Anyway so suddenly we have this really huge Tik Tok following at the same time as my husband and I happen to be getting married because we could only afford 20 people in haytown Hall we thought it'd be really cool if we live streamed our wedding so because of Tik Tok we were able to have an extra 2,000 people join us on our big day what have you got another suit what have I got to wear I'm the bride are you the bridegroom or the bride what you call husband and husband husband and husband de is there a great list of people who's this one Nadia Nadia is that a woman or a man non-binary oh draw a bird a bird show me bloody right into that mate like a kid what you reckon then let's look got shoes not too high what do you reckon about this proc you wouldn't have the ZIP down the front would you.

10:34 This is rather nice is it it doesn't matter okay hello oh it's still coming are you wedding ready that. That's looks lovely that's really will it last not too much. That's nice lovely does this open wide or not right Mom looking at me. That's it lovely you are now husband and [Applause]

11:05 husband where can we have it with the others on the sideboard [Laughter]

11:13 is so on the eve of their 60th wedding anniversary I became the last of my parents nine children to get married and I'm also their first gay wedding experience so it felt kind of a menst that all of this would be happening at the same time that they'd found internet Fame I also think the recent Tik toks of my parents that had been getting excitedly ready for a gay wedding demonstrates a kind of unspoken allyship and has been really endearing and kind of quietly powerful they have more important things to worry about like what pudding they're going to have for tea so yeah to basically wrap it up I've had friends and even siblings that have faded out of my life but never these two I'm still not sure if my parents think I am a fully functioning adult yet but I'm very certain that they've been getting immense Joy from hearing that people are laughing and crying and somehow form ing genuine connections through these videos it has been a ridiculous year so thank you to anyone here who has been tuning into to the Tik Tok Channel and thank you to everyone else here for now being part of this very personal Journey thank you