Methodologies
The methods employed in this research included theoretical research, interviews, filming, editing, and practical exploration. The theoretical research was conducted in order to initiate informed discussions with interviewees and familiarise myself with relevant information. The interviews determined the outcome of the editing process, while practical exploration occurred alongside in order to investigate the topic on a personal level, e.g. experimenting with drag for myself. The questions asked in interviews sometimes varied depending on how each one was answered. These questions can be viewed in appendix 1. The majority of interviewees were not interviewed in costume as getting into drag is arduous and participation was voluntary. The two who were in drag for their interview are friends of mine and were happy to get into drag for the evening. As the filming was carried out under the impression that there would be more performative content created later on, the quality of the interviews in regards to framing, setting and camera operation involved very little planning. If the project had been better planned from the outset then the quality and creativity of the visual content would have been to a higher standard.
The diversity of responses featured in the film was limited to the artists that I was able to interview. Though the initial list of contacts I had was more diverse, the resulting interviewees were all white and able-bodied and therefore the film does not reflect the experiences of BIPOC or disabled artists. Due to time constraints, I only interviewed artists I either knew personally or had seen perform. I would also like to stress that the experiences represented in the film are those of individuals, and therefore do not represent the experiences of all trans, non-binary or cisgender drag performers.
The ethical considerations that went into this research included a consent form and project information sheet (see appendices 2 & 3) that was signed by all participants to give them autonomy over how their responses were captured and used in the work. I gave all participants the option of having their responses written, audio recorded, or filmed. Only the filmed interviews were used, but the piece was informed by all responses. The footage of participants performing was used with permission from each artist. Photographs by Diego Maeso were used with permission, while the rest were either taken by myself or from royalty-free stock sites. The risk assessment was completed in May post-filming (see appendix 4), which in hindsight was a mistake as I was not informed about the risk assessment before filming began. However, during filming, no serious risks were taken and filming was conducted indoors, mostly seated.