When I watched my partner’s footage there were some unnoticed qualities that stood out; I realised that she picked up on a lot of things I would not have, such as certain areas, furnishings and details of the shopping centre. As I had been so desensitised to the colours, shapes and patterns in my surroundings it was interesting to see the location from an outsiders’ perspective. For example, she noticed the wood grain of a bench and the arrangement of poles in one of the exits, which I would never have paid attention to alone. We also had some shots in common, such as filming floor tiles and the ceiling. These were the most obvious features to notice as they are present throughout both shopping centres and have their own distinct patterns.

We tended to mark and record a lot of our movement (such as going up and down escalators) as well as bright colours (artwork outside and inside of the shopping centres). Additionally, we found that we recorded an almost identical shot in both locations; a pan from a height over the ground below, where people can be seen.  As we followed the same recipe it is likely we both wanted to capture the view we had noticed, and in a way that aligned with our technical needs. It is interesting to see that in an unfamiliar location, our patterns of noticing are similar, as we recorded around the same number of detail oriented shots and shots of the space.

I feel that our edit was quite successful in reflecting the process of the exercise, as we used visual and auditory information to convey our experiences in locations unfamiliar to us. By showing individual shots followed by a comparison of the two, we are able to examine the similarities and differences in how we notice. While neither of us had visited each other’s locations before, we had both experienced the atmosphere of a shopping centre before. We also wanted to demonstrate the manner in which we employed Mason’s ordinary-noticing, marking, and recording framework through our edit, as we recorded footage whenever we picked up on something visually or technically interesting.

Through this task I reinforced my understanding that noticing is something that is unique to each individual. People can notice auditory stimuli as well as visual stimuli, as Michael Gallagher states: “If sound enacts power (…), then so must listening”, which emphasises the listener’s role in applying meaning to sound. I also strengthened my understanding of nonfiction media as work that is based in reality; as we attempted to use all of the footage we had shot, it helped us to present an authentic view of two unfamiliar locations. David Shields’ statement in ‘Reality’ that “what’s important is the way the world looks” reinforces this idea of authenticity in nonfiction.

Two questions which evolve for me about noticing and nonfiction through doing this work are:

-How can I notice more things in locations that are familiar to me?

-What can I do to further develop my knowledge of nonfiction media?