I’ve been thinking a lot about what Bogost said about meanwhile being an extremely powerful tool in the world of ontography (2012, pg. 50). It reminded me of the “yes, and” concept when I studied drama in high school, always prompting something further. It has also been my preferred way of exploring the possibilities of an explosive list, relating back to this practice of noticing, and being able to ‘draw attention to the countless things that litter our world unseen’ (Bogost 2012, pg. 51).
My rough mindset going into making my explosive experiment was to present the meanwhile, in my neighbourhood right now, and contrast its quietness and stillness with a constructed soundscape similar to that of when we are not in a pandemic, eg: bustling. This juxtaposition would challenge you to think about what aspect felt more peaceful and calm.
But I feel like that mindset shifted slightly, as I began to notice aspects in my footage I did not necessarily intend, and pieced together a further explosion, meanwhile, within my frame. While I am not too terribly happy with the quality of the footage gathered overall (it felt selfish to go out with a tripod and camera during quarantine, so I just used my phone and a water bottle to prop it up whilst on an isolated walk, so it’s kinda grainy and pretty bland pre colour correction), I did find I noticed a lot more exploded elements within the shots. I noticed that nature and animals were really dominant within the focus. They aren’t directly affected by the pandemic, as they get to go around their routines of blowing in the wind or grooming, and that felt kind of beautiful.
I took Conor’s feedback and played around with consistency, and chose to make all the shots 10 seconds each to give the piece a more structured flow. I also wanted to incorporate music, but couldn’t find anything under creative commons that fit, but did find something that wasn’t that I can’t use for my official submission, which is a bummer but understandable. If you want to check it out, it’s embedded below as a lil extra! If you do watch it, let me know which version you like more and why 🙂
Reflection References
Bogost, I., 2012. ‘Ontography’ in Alien Phenomenology. Or What It’s Like to be a Thing. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis. pp. 50-59.
Video References
Sound Effects from BBC Sound Library
- Cars passing on open road – tranquil cicadas and distant birds — – disturbed by occasional cars passing at speed.
- Group of young people walking in park, with some voices.
Lady Fingers – Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass