For individual exercise #3, we had to use footage we had filmed along with footage from other groups in the class to create some kind of coherent, visual, experimental observation. For my piece, unfortunately all of my groups footage had been lost, so I decided to use every other groups footage. In a way this was a far more therapeutic and rewarding process, utilising footage from other peoples’ perspectives, that I had never seen before, it allowed me to draw conclusions and links between footage I don’t believe would have been possible had I used footage I had shot myself, and therefore had previous knowledge of. Through this process I drew links between seemingly discordant footage and represented a picture that to me, showed the slow encroachment of humanity upon nature within such places as the city, through imagery of plants combining with urban sprawl and the constant auditory motif of the crossing signal. The images of humanity seen only through shadows created a sinister presence which was fully revealed in the final shot of the fork lift, a very impacting, loud and visceral shot, with a juxtaposing beep of its own.
I chose not to shoot further footage as I felt the point I was trying to get across was expressed completely through the footage I already had available to me. I also believe that making a concious decision as to what would need to be added visually, would take away from the links and connections I had created in the editing process. Through removing myself from the filming process and being solely involved in the editing process, I was able to connect with the visual aesthetics of the footage to a greater degree and find emotional links and connections that otherwise wouldn’t have been found, having a preconceived notion of the footage’s meaning and various qualities.