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.

The process of developing a sense of personal style in observational writing without strong direction and/or examples has been an important element with respect to gaining confidence and ease in writing. While being void of such may seem counter-intuitive as it leaves one without much context as to how to approach the process, to have begun to practise writing without strong preconceptions of what the product of writing should be or what elements and characteristics are necessary for a ‘good’ observational piece has allowed for my own personal intuition and sensibilities to function as dominant sources of influence. As a consequence of this, production has not pampered an audience and expectations but rather has sought to be centralised on subjects to which I feel most strongly inclined to write about and defined by approaches which I perceive as being the most appropriate in representing these subjects. Ultimately, writing has maintained a self-serving direction as opposed to a reader-serving direction and has begun to acquire character accordingly.

That said, I acknowledge that not becoming confined to an understanding of the practise of observational writing that is defined by my methods only is equally important. While I believe that the groundwork of my own stylistic approach to observational writing has now been laid, being exposed to the styles and approaches of other students at this less-early stage has not only allowed me to have formed a ‘control’ or a point of reference against which the work of others may be compared, but has also ensured that I am better equipped to maintain personal stylistic integrity while still being aware of and considering alternative methods and approaches to production. Most immediately, reading the work of my peers has highlighted the potential for diversity in observational writing while also providing insight into some of the potential avenues for experimentation and deviation from my perception of a ‘normal’ piece. Of particular note in this is alternative approaches to structure, for the various forms adopted by others, I believe, differ considerably from my own. I hope to be able to apply some of the techniques used by my peers in their work to my own in the future while maintaining a self-serving approach to writing.

Thus far, the studio has functioned, in essence, as an extended exercise in becoming more aware of the experience of everyday life and the small nuances which may make it interesting. While the immediate aim in participation is to be able to improve my ability to produce highly detailed and therefore more realistic written pieces, I hope that such will generally assist in producing media of a greater depth and detail that may therefore be more engaging for the audience.

That said, the process of observational writing did not come naturally at first. In fact, I struggled to a considerable extent with not only identifying what in my environment would make for what I believed would be a ‘good’ subject for observation, but also with beginning to write an observational piece once my subject had been identified. Such ultimately led to my not writing a lot of potential observations due to frustrations that arose from uncertainty in how to start writing, I was often scratching out and deleting or re-writing opening sentences and clauses because I was of the belief that such were too forced, awkward and unnatural to be of any value.

As the past few weeks have progressed, however, I feel that I have begun to notice a change in my writing as it comes with a much greater degree of ease. I struggle still with perceiving potential content, and sometimes find myself wandering and actively searching for content (although often I don’t write about what I observe on these occasions), however the beginning of writing a piece now comes with greater ease.

Further to this, in my initial observations I was acutely aware of the pace of my piece as I wrote, however I now find myself less actively involved in consideration of such. While I believe still that pace is important, in becoming more aware of my consideration of pace I have realised that it is not imperative. Such has led to my wanting to experiment with the possibility of greater realism in representation of experience with naturalistic irregularity in pace and to what degree the inclusion of a manufactured pace may enhance an observation.

Documentary interview footage has revealed to me the relation of observation to documentation as being firmly grounded in presence and mindfulness throughout the course of the documentary experience. Not necessarily that experience which is being communicated to the film maker or the audience by the interviewee, although such remains still as of utmost importance, but rather the experience of the film maker in being exposed to particular stories and environments throughout the course of constructing a piece and how such may be exploited to enhance the representation of the experiences depicted and/or the experience of an interviewee.

This idea was made evident to myself upon viewing a documentary excerpt pertaining to the immediate political climate and electoral politics in Chile at the time of its production. The camera work could easily be deemed as of observational character, as the camera operator was not the interviewer but rather accompanied the interviewer and his subjects, and was of seemingly unplanned and thus ‘unrefined’ nature (by this I mean to say that there is no evident meticulous preparation of shots, angles, transitions, but rather each shot and frame appears as though it was constructed in an instant and perhaps even impulsively). My impression of this particular example of an observational approach to documentary was that things or elements of the environment that were or perceived pertinence and interest were captured as they were noticed and realised; the moving crowds, the political signage in car windows, the crowd of people attracted as an interviewee discussed their beliefs and opinions. As the camera swung back and forth between subjects and elements of the environment, it felt as though the experience of living in and observing a moment was emulated. Furthermore, it felt as though this derived from the fact that the individual operating the camera seemed to be doing exactly that in their documentation of the event, being present and observant. What arose was an engaging and organic representation of a moment that felt closer to an experience than a representation, all for the camera operator being mindful of their own experience of the event and elements that were important to its understanding as they unfolded.

During our time in workshop early in week 3, the class was introduced to Afraid So, a 2006 piece directed by Jay Rosenblatt. Constructed from a series of clips which all appeared to be found footage, the short film was an intense accompaniment to a poem that although previously read was otherwise of little impact and memorability to myself. Yet, the unusual pace of the editing in Rosenblatt’s rendition, extended pauses in visual stimulus, and confrontational nature of the shots provided in tandem with an emotionally charged reading of the poem not only captured my attention but also left a lasting impression.

The exploited footage presents essentially as a series of observations of varying character, nature and purpose that are contextualised both by the poem but also largely by each other. This montage lead me to realise the potential for a documentary observational style to be manipulated so that it may function in a non-documentary manner. By this I mean to say that an observation may be re-contextualised so that it may adopt an alternative purpose which may not have otherwise been evident. This may derive perhaps from the invitation of emphasis upon elements of an observation that may otherwise not have been subject to such, or it may operate in a more literary sense by establishing potential functions, symbolisms and psychological undertones as underpinning factors.

I am aware that such is not a new thought or approach to observations or making media, and such approach has been particularly common in experimental cinema for a very extended period of time, however a more targeted and purposeful awareness and acknowledgement of the technique has invited me to realise the importance of nuance in how an observation is translated and the capacity for redefining the subject of observation by the particular emphasis on a certain element that may be achieved in re-contextualising an observation. I hope to attempt to apply this realisation in the future by taking greater care in production and explore the potential of composite pieces that address several observations so as to lend greater ability for varying appreciations of written pieces.

I experienced some difficulty when it came to exercise 1 on account of the fact that I am generally very familiar and uninspired by my immediate surroundings. In light of this, I struggled to notice and identify what may be of interest to another person and it was quite some time before I found what I believed to be an appropriate subject.

My ultimate intention was to be more mindful and thus more aware of my surroundings. From this came a desire to capture something that had an element of stillness, as I felt that this would more effectively reflect my thoughts and intentions (ie. mindfulness) in selecting a subject. In addition to this, I had a desire to capture something that was of some aesthetic appeal and have been recently heavily influenced by the photography of Roman Spataro in this sense. 

The first shot taken reflects some urgency in this endeavour to capture such. It was hurriedly framed and I failed to notice that it was improperly focused and compositionally uninteresting, thus inadequately reflecting what was the actual subject of the shot. In reviewing this initial take, I came to realise not only that my first attempt was of little success in capturing what I found interesting about the scene, but also that said points of interest were quite small in actuality and could be easily isolated for a more effective representation of my own perception. I found myself not only altering the rather fundamental aforementioned points of shot construction so as to produce a more intentional shot, but also majorly readjusting the frame in order to provide more effective emphasis to what I felt was the subject of my greatest interest in sight of the scene.

Most of what I learned in this exercise related to the practise of being mindful not only in noticing, but also of composition in filming and what exactly draws me towards capturing something so that I may more effectively emphasise such. It has crossed my mind that this may be counter-intuitive to the practise of observing in some senses, as it essentially imposes a visual bias that validates a more passive perception of a subject as opposed to a more active observation for a viewer, however I feel that it is an important realisation that I will bear in mind in later projects.

Ultimately, I like the final product but feel that I should have taken more time still to adjust the composition.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1T9xHTIQqzc6gOXSDqwmqkbXo6Mv3Uh1T?usp=sharing