So far, with this new idea that I’ve been brainstorming of squash and recreating the experience of playing squash, trying to work out how to film lingering on work with the material that I have currently filmed

so far I have

• filmed movement by lingering on the subject
• filmed with a tripod

my current ideas are to

• create a Korsakow file of all the lingered movement, allowing the subject to interact with the space of a squash court
  • recreate a squash scene DIY- from the sound up
• highlighting the sound, with the intention of creating a delay in the sound to explore the importance of the sound, perhaps making use of some of the motifs I learnt while doing sound design as well

I would say this then will amount to two parts to make up a whole, for the assignment in all its parts, with one part being something created in Korsakow, and another part being a short audiovisual piece

I think one such video I am considering creating is one that seeks to prove the importance of the sound in squash, via perhaps exploring how it feels to put audio and video on delay. I recently learnt about the theoretical sound framework, synchresis, which refers to the spontaneous mental fusion between a sound and the video that it is presented with. I feel like this lopsided video of audio on delay could be offputting in it’s essence, but i really do want to explore it.

I will make a 1 minute video, of a short edited sequence in which the sequence is repeated, each time the sound is delayed more, I think this will be interesting. This in a way to perhaps be similar to Scattered Squash, but without the erratic video element

The Jones (2011) reading is really hefty, and I feel there is quite a lot to gather from it. One of the things I gathered was a reading exploring the videoing practices of BASE jumpers, which “document and elongate the ephemeral experience of BASE jumping, and fix in… achievement which accompanies these experiences” (Ferrell et. al. 2001). To extrapolate this and supplant it into my overarching ideas around squash, I feel as if what I will be trying to do seeks directly to elongate the ephemeral experience of playing squash. Ferrell et al (2001) explore Lacan’s three moments in the production of the (centered) subject: an initial gaze, a moment of understanding, and a moment to conclude, with respect to how it is a process that plays itself out in an event such as a BASE jump.

I would say, here, that lingering on squash, on one’s quick movements, from the point that they serve, until the point ends, also fulfils these moments, in the Real, Imaginary and Symbolic. To take what Ferrell et al. (2001) take from Lacan’s philosophical field of work and place into BASE jumping context, and then to transfer that to the context of squash, I feel like it is just as fluid in a way. This is because, in the moment, I feel like there is something so visceral about the sensation of each point while playing squash, such that there have been points in which I’ve gotten carried away, far too easily, transcending the real and imagining boundaries that go beyond the geometrical confines, and getting hurt. It will be really interesting, not to see anyone get hurt, but perhaps to try to linger on those that get a bit too carried away in the moment, as these moments probably signify some of the strongest elements of the sport, at least for myself.

Sources –

Ferrell. J, Milovanovic. D, & Lyng, S (2001) Edgework, media practices, and the elongation of meaning: A theoretical ethnography of the Bridge Day event, Theoretical Criminology, vol.5 (2), 177-202, SAGE Publications

Rodney H. Jones (2011) Sport and re/creation: what skateboarders can teach us about learning, Sport, Education and Society, vol.16 (5), 593-611, DOI: 10.1080/13573322.2011.601139

In search of some academic articles that would help me contextualise and understand how I would explore this question of “how can one recreate the experience of playing squash?”, I did of course find it a little difficult to find articles directly referring to squash that suit the subject matter. As a result, I tried to explore topics like filming fast movement, and other sports, in a way to work out how fast movement can be involved in lingering. For instance, Jones (2011) opines about skateboarding, and how video practices were able to improve skateboarders understanding of their own work: creatively and skilfully.

One of the main takeaways is that ability of skateboarding to improve in this manner, I wonder how squash could achieve as much, and how much I would be able to achieve this with my own devices. Jones (2011) explores a concern I had when thinking about documenting squash more, in that traditionally “research on the relationship between media and sport has been primarily concerned with representations of sport in commercial media”, and how commercial media representations of professional sport can distort our (young people’s) expectations of how we play sport. This really resonates with me, and how I see the professional squash videos that I always watch, it almost isn’t something I think I try to aspire to, because it seems to unachievable, meaning it would definitely be worth exploring how fun the sport is for me in this project, in recreating an experience that not only does that but perhaps also encourages others to experience squash too?

Rodney H. Jones (2011) Sport and re/creation: what skateboarders can teach us about learning, Sport, Education and Society, 16:5, 593-611, DOI: 10.1080/13573322.2011.601139

Immediately following assignment 3, I had an overarching feeling that the overall situation I wanted to document involved exploring more facets about lingering; to detail lingering in natural terms and also manmade terms.

However, of course, this idea did pivot. Making a pivot from the idea of lingering on water to these thoughts about documenting sport, or squash – which I would argue were inspired by this initial video that I filmed while in class – (vimeo video link) have me essential at square one in terms of the understanding I feel I need to gain, and the research, in total that I’ll need to do. I first explored non-fiction videos of sports in general, thinking squash would be hard to find, looking into tennis as well, but overall I did find a few pieces that, to me, I felt would serve as reasonable research for this assignment.

The Tennis Wall is a non-fiction piece layered in emotive qualities, perhaps more than anything I will do will, but in the same way the filmmaker loves the sound of the Tennis ball hitting the wall, I found the use of audio quite great here.

I also found this video, Scattered Squash, really wild and innovative, though so simple in it’s design, lingering on the same shot, increasingly layered and increasingly choatic in it’s visual and audio nature. I think it would be a style of layering that is also worth exploring, though I’m not exactly sure how to do it in such a way that wouldn’t be too much like mimicking this completely.

I think in this searching I also found videos, without much to offer, that were in ways more just like self aggrandising in a sense, more than being a non-fiction piece, per se.

My ideas keep on changing I feel. On Monday i went to go play squash with my friends, but at that point it definitely didn’t occur to me that my idea for this assignment could revolve so much around what i had filmed, to linger on my friends while they were playing squash and moving around, which i feel is an exploration of lingering through movement. but alas, I am now thinking of using lingering to create an audiovisual experience for squash, or perhaps recreate it.

So… how can you recreate the experience of playing squash? This is a question I’ve given myself to work on for this final assignment, and it is one, with respect to lingering that feels all together quite interesting. I think from the outset, one can only recreate the experience of playing squash by first reaching a conclusion as to what it is about the experience of playing squash that provides the most clarity whilst playing it. I would say there is something so thoroughly comforting about the various sounds of squash, such that listing them evokes a variable feeling.

• The ball hitting the wall
• The ball bouncing off the side of the wall hitting the main wall
• The shoes chirping around the court

I feel like the elements i’d wish to explore in this sense will confront these sounds more, and the visuals of squash, in a way that, for lack of a better adjective, enhances them.

it’s been summoned upon me further elaborate how benning’s work lends towards lingering, and i feel as if it will be worthy to devote an entire blog post to exploring the means by which benning’s work can encapsulate lingering.

lingering via duration

as i have been discussing through these blogs, i firmly believe there is a lot to be said about lingering by way of duration, or by prolonging the extent to which something is filmed. the use of time as a non-constraint would be a truly liberating facet for lingering, as to ignore time, one could let a shot that is being lingered on by way of duration just manifest, leaving the viewer to fully explore what is taking place. in los, at the 13th minute, there is a shot of a harbour with benning capturing a boat as it arrives at the left side of the frame, to then cut as the entire boat leaves the right side of the frame, before exploring another environment. using lingering via duration with the use of time as a non-constraint would be so beneficial for lingering as it would really allow a camera to absorb an environment, and a landscape, to fully, for that moment, bask.

benning’s praxis embodies this style of lingering as benning does also then deliberate what, of the countless multitude of footage he has captured with his camera, should then be used in the final project, and in leaving his camera dormant at times, allows noticing to take place once something has already been filmed, noticing in post-production. it’s truly admirable, i think

all in all, i think my first springboard dive into the pool of lingering was a success more or less, though in many ways there is a lot more to be learnt, as with any process, but i am pretty pleased. my noticing experiment in lingering was one that was trying to explore lingering in a way that deals with basking and absorbing moments, to try contextualise them and understand them. I think my experiment responds to the prompt quite well in the sense that the recipe created considers all bounds suggested. however, it is worth mentioning that as my work pivoted from being one particular thing to then becoming something else, all the facets which i was considering to explore have been in a way diluted as my work was now a lingering work surrounding the element of water a lot more. i think as such it diverts from the recipe an amount but i think it is still inspired by it.

what did i learn about noticing

i think this project helped me understand further that it is not as difficult to notice as it is the mark elements, because the time i could spend noticing something, i could then spend lamenting that my audiovisual devices are not readily available for me to use. though something can really be said here that i should make this occurrence less of a reality.

what did i learn about non-fiction

my understanding of non-fiction continues to get better as the semester progresses as i happen upon contextualising non-fiction work more in my creative process as well as my highlighting other works that lends towards non-fiction work as i notice it. what occurred to me more this assignment is non-fiction can be in a way “fictitious”, a work can create a creative landscape that is not “authentic”, like the layering shots of water, it is representing non-fiction in a fictitious and non-existent manner, in a way? this is to say that the line can be blurred.

refining into a larger scale project?

i think if i’m going to explore water more in lingering, it would be a waste for me not to also explore lingering with another part of nature, in places where you can go on hikes, and the like. in terms of finding a way to expand on water lingering as well as an exploration of how i can add juxtaposition more into my assignment and into lingering, i think that this is the next logical step, and i’m quite looking forward to exploring as much. it will also prove to be a great excuse to get some vitamin d, i think.

Last night I was watching some music videos for quite a long amount of time and it was an interesting exercise to, while watching, realise the facets of the videos that I felt could lend towards lingering.

Case in point was Blood Orange’s Charcoal Baby video, and Jewelry video, as well as A$AP Rocky’s Praise Da Lord video. In Charcoal Baby and Praise Da Lord, there is a use of split screen that is so creative and thematically fits in with something that could be really interesting

Here the split screen works in synergy with each other as both screens tell this story of two places colliding. In Praise Da Lord there is two distinct locations being documented, to ‘in a way’ highlight that they’re like for like, that the two locations are the same, by way of montage. In Charcoal Baby this is done and showing two settings, with a very juxtaposition by way of a contrasting colour grading to compliment both split screen situations too.

Thus, to extrapolate these ideas I think there is a lot of weight in adopting split screen shots in lingering that is a vast juxtaposition, as well as something completely advantageous of using split screen recording to linger on two different locations and link them geometrically, it really opens a treasure trove of ideas and I think it could really function well in a jigsaw puzzle manner.

James Benning’s work is really starting to implant itself into mine, at least for this assignment. My idea in mind is to linger on “protagonists” a word lifted from the reading from class, to involve or move forward with the desire of mine to document planes in the sky, or perhaps flight – to feature land as protagonist. Benning seems to be making use of this in his shots, to really hone in on what I would argue lingering encapsulates, in which any points extrapolated are implicit, in the essence of the shot. I write this while watching Ruhr, and it seems Benning has cottoned on to my idea well before I thought it would be genius, with an unassuming shot of flora as a plane flies past (in which the interviewer bases their implicated thought from).

I think as well the idea of letting a Tripod solidify a shot for us, as that which is in the frame can serve as the shot in the sense that Benning describes, and for that sake I’ve really enjoyed filming a new constraint, which is that of lingering on cliffs, as a way to reap the cinematic benefits of being in a coastal environment during the mid-semester break.

That said I am slightly dissapointed that although the proximity of the planes I saw land on Hamilton Island was so extremely close, I really wasn’t in the best position at any time to film it, having been overcome with a headache.

A final point, I feel like the term Duration will really test this inspiration from Benning, as for a video that is meant to be 3 minutes long, this is a far cry from the aesthetic of Benning’s movies, which are far less bound by a constraint of duration. I think the overarching solution to this though, is overlays.