In this week’s reading called, ‘Slow Cinema’, I liked the idea of how a place can “enable a form of cinematic dwelling by carving out a space and allowing a length of time wherein spectators may observe nature’s rhythms and patterns as they occur on screen.” Although our project isn’t slow cinema, it still attempts to show observations of rhythms and patterns as they show on screen. It also attempts to link rhythms between environments. 

One singular thing which is working well is the timing and structure of our film. The structure shows our documentation process more clearly. It allows the audience to observe the environments after one another and find comparisons toward the end.

One singular thing which isn’t working well is probably the pace. I thought this after having a read through this week’s reading and seeing how we could utilise the aesthetics of slow cinema. Our pace seems too quick at times and possibly doesn’t allow the viewer to have a greater observation of some footage.

Some feedback we received on the rough cut was to tidy up and polish some transitions. We also removed all the natural sounds coming from the footage as it detracted away from our voice-over. This made the film have a more quiet and inquisitive observation appeal.

References:

Lam, S., 2015. It’s About Time: Slow Aesthetics in Experimental Ecocinema and Nature Cam Videos, in: Luca, T. de (Ed.), Slow Cinema. Edinburgh University Press, pp. 207–218.