Inspiration struck once again as I sat awaiting a train at South Yarra station. I happened to be staring directly at a gap between the carriages of an immobile train on the opposite platform. I noticed that there was quite an interesting depth and definition of spaces to this perspective, so I started filming.
To begin with, people walking past on the opposite platform could be seen clearly in this gap and only quite vaguely through the windows of the train. This to me represents the station as an in-between environment quite well – these people are on their way to spaces where they shall be more settled, so their presence here is quite fleeting and absent, especially to other people. There are also people walking in the foreground on my platform and mainly in the other direction, creating a mirror-like contrast between the two spaces. This contrast also initiates a kind of push-pull effect between the platforms: the activity in the background platform is urging towards the right, representing arrival as a train has arrived and is stationary, whereas the activity in the foreground platform urges towards the left, foreshadowing departure and the arrival of another train that we are anticipating.
There are some things I’d like to note in the first half of this take. Firstly, there is an interesting eclecticism to the people that appear in this footage which could be broadly taken as a cross-section of the myriad people you come across at train stations. I also noticed an interesting rhythmic segregation with the people walking past – people naturally keep their distance from each other at stations, and this is apparent to the extent that it almost appears disturbingly calculated in moments of the footage. There are clear verticals and horizontals present all over the frame, which are accommodated quite well by the framing. People, and especially those in the foreground, are aligned with the portrait orientation along with the focal carriage gap. Almost everything else but particularly the train(s), platforms, tracks and dotted lines create a horizontal orientation, pulling the viewer in both directions. Lastly, as with the tram footage, there are distinct spaces that stretch into the frame and beyond what is presented in the frame. Most clearly, each platform is its own distinct space with its own distinct activity, as is the space which holds the train tracks, along with the space slightly featured at the top of the frame just beyond the train station. Another space that is conveyed stretches out in the opposite direction, and that is the space implied in the reflection of the windows of the train and building that can be seen. I think this is worth noting, for reasons that will soon become clear.
This is where the unanticipated magic came into play and brought the take into accordance with my concept. A train did arrive at the foreground platform, which contrasts with what was otherwise quite a subtle and static shot. It brought with it an even stronger dichotomy between the platforms, pushing fiercely to the left before slowly coming to a stop to allow for the background train to begin modestly leaving to the right (a moment of timing which I was pretty amazed by). Within these trains, there are more distinct spaces, which when considered with the aforementioned dichotomy of direction and movement is made even more interesting as we now also have not only distinct spaces existing somewhat independently of each other, but also distinct realms/interpretations of time operating separately. What most clearly sparked my interest, however, was the fact that as the second train enters the frame, a strange, simultaneously additive and subtractive transferral of space takes place: what we could slightly see of the space beyond the station represented in the top twelfth of the frame before is now replaced by the reflection on the windows of the new train, which exposes a more extensive depiction of the space that stretches out behind the camera.
I’ve probably talked a little too much here, but this is definitely my favourite footage so far. This is essentially the turning point for me, I’m fairly certain I’ll continue to pursue and investigate spaces in a similar way to how I have here.