The subway project continues to develop around three central geographies: the train, the station and the neighbourhood and examining these each as individual contexts—illustrated from within—but also as connected contexts—illustrated by moving between.1
- The train is a context where many narratives converge and diverge; a continuous space of renegotiation and shuffling. It oscillates between moments of intense speed coupled with minimal but constant noise (the whurring of wind, the regular clicking of the track) to complete motionless with an outburst of excuse me’s, door dings, and alerts to “stand clear of the closing door”.
- The station is an island yet functions between the spaces of the train and the neighbourhood; it is the bridge and an interstitial space. It is slow and quiet until suddenly it is not: a train whizzes by!
- The neighborhood lives above ground, where the people provide the connection to the station, and secondarily to the train. However, sound seeps up from below through air grates with the rumble of a passing train or up the stairs with the people.
With Empire as a strong reference, I’m interested in what happens when applying their methods and juxtaposition techniques to alternative content? In Empire’s case, the narrative is driven by the personal, human stories. But if the subject of my piece is an object (the train) and a place (the station or neighborhood) rather than a person, are the techniques still appropriate? Can they be used to highlight the people within the very structured environment?
In order to test these questions, I’m considering using the same footage from each of the geographies (the train, the station, the neighbourhood) but reconstituting them through different frames of juxtaposition.
Pairs, but Separate
The first proposition is a series of diptychs, one for each geography. Each diptych is composed from two fixed-camera perspectives within the geography, but the user can only see one perspective at a time depending on they mouse position. Each side of the diptych is running simultaneously while watching the other. I’ve created a couple prototypes experimenting with the relationship between different shots. (Static images to be replaced with embedded videos…)
Note: I need to shoot more Neighbourhood footage to build out its geography.
A Triptych
Another proposition is a triptych in which the user has no control over what is playing and what is being watched. Footage from the train, station and neighbourhood is shown simultaneous. The train footage plays continually, but alternatives between the station footage and the neighbourhood footage when stationary or in motion, respectively. Note: The neighbourhood footage doesn’t feel appropriate for this at the moment. The emphasis is on the gateway down to the underground versus the neighbourhood as a context. Perhaps reframing the shot would change the focus and make clearer the relationship. Additionally, maybe there needs to be more alignment in movement like there is between the train and station shots. People exiting the stairs could correspond to when the train began moving in the middle shot.