After my slight existential crisis on Monday and subsequent discussion with Paul, he suggested that I start from what I know and go around to film where I live in Preston. I took this idea, along with inspiration from Nostalgia for the Light, and shot some footage around my house. I’ve tried to find glimpses that are special to my home in particular, aiming to capture the atmosphere of the place. I ended up choosing mostly close ups of various objects in the final cut, thinking that the establishing shots I had looked too cluttered and not artistic enough. However, this then made the video lack a feel of the overall space of the house, which I think was a problem. With the soundscapes, I’ve tried to include all the environmental sounds I hear when the house is quiet – the birds chirping outside, the clock ticking, and other homey sounds I associate with my room.
This is obviously far from perfect, but there are some things I like about it, for example the shot of the chair and the blinds. I don’t know, however, if I’ve managed to capture the whole atmosphere of my house, maybe due to the fact that the clip was too short and I chose not to use wider shots. The important thing is that with this exercise, I felt a little better about having content for my investigation and now have a starting point.
Here’s the finished clip:
Home. from Jessica Xiao on Vimeo.
