The first segment of Noticing Media Bodies documentary series, Kalem Beange talks about skating as a creative practice that entails both an embodied experience and emotional expression.
Skateboarding being a physical expression, it evokes continuous challenges related to emotion, more so fear, as participants engage in high risk tricks as they move from point A to point B. As Beange mentions within their interview, muscle memory plays a role when performing tricks done previously, almost coming to them as second nature. However, when it comes to performing an action that their body is not yet comfortable with or completely new, envisioning the action prior to allows them to create a step-by-step process of their embodied response.
Emotions and embodied knowledge within skating could be considered similar to the activity of parkour as they move from wall to wall in the most strategic and artist way possible. Stephen John Saville’s text, Playing with Fear: Parkour and the mobility of emotion, discloses the hobby as being one that engages with fear that eventuates into methods that allow contenders to interact with a space. Saville mentions that touch can enable a further visual experience that triggers a bodily reaction.
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When reflecting on this work, one thing that worked well was the use of audio running behind the narration through skating shots. I felt this was able to evoke further meaning of Beange’s discussed experiences, granting audiences an insight into his world. However, one issue I had with the audio was the narration itself. Reviewing the interview footage during the production process, it was made aware to me that it was too soft and too hard to hear. While this may seem easily fixed with sound levels, there was a few parts that needed to be cut out as it remained unclear and still came across as mumbling.