In the experience with writing observations as a class, or at least what I have seen of it, there appears to be a tendency towards a shorter form. For myself, this arises largely from two factors; one is the supposition that capturing the moment at which an observation is realised, particularly when it is fleeting, should be done in short form so as to reflect the fleeting-ness of the realisation. Another is the fact that those clips shown to us throughout the course of our classes are typically of a short form, due largely to their being excerpts from a larger piece or compilation. While the latter is not indicative of an explicit form which an observation should adopt and the aforementioned does not necessarily encompass the realisation of fleeting observations but may also apply to the realisation of things observed over several minutes or an extended period of time, I feel as though I have allowed myself to be overly groomed in favour of short-formed observational writing.

Observational-style pieces by Italo Calvino (Moon in the Afternoon, The Cheese Museum and The World Looks at the World), however, serve as a contradiction to this supposition. These pieces have disrupted my expectations of the ‘normal’ form of observational writing by virtue of their length and the use of several pages to address a duration period which, if I were to attempt to represent in writing, I would have written of in a few short paragraphs at the most. Yet, without being excessive in length, these pieces engage in an appropriate expansion of time to allow for a more detailed and careful elucidation of the  subject. This is accompanied by what would seem to be an inevitable reduction of the pace of action within the piece which, in turn, gives rise to the representation of what may be taken for the realisation of an observation (which may still have been fleeting) in such a fashion that suggests against fleeting-ness.

This realisation of the potential for the extension of observation has revealed potential avenues by which pace may be explored. Should the representation of a brief moment be extended, then perhaps manipulation in pace through structural features of writing and, in future, video editing may assist in the restoration of an understanding of the progression of time. In addition to this, such may allow for greater depth of writing and thereby more complex and detailed observations or the provocation of previously unconsidered responses from the reader such as a sense of nostalgia or pensiveness. That said, I feel currently unprepared to apply this realisation to my own work as I find the idea of producing an observational piece that is longer by such a considerable degree as the writings of Italo Calvino to be intimidating, however I hope to make attempts at small extensions in length with the aim of increasing detail and complexity.