Sam
TS Member
Introduction
With my writings, I've tried to upgrade the standard of prose about theme parks and rollercoasters. But I've become more frustrated as I've written these articles, that the written form doesn't allow me to express what I want to say completely. I'm not sure how well the visual excess and jazzy rom-pom-pom of the world of theme parks translates into dry written pieces.
I've become interested in the idea of documentary, of college. Watching amateur rollercoaster documentaries, I've been very disappointed with their quality. They are often, let's be honest, un-watchable. I think this is down to two main reasons:
In making my own work, I've eliminated both completely. The former, by using a cut-up college style, trying to weave dozens of found clips into a coherent visual narrative. The latter, by using subtitles instead of a voice-over.
The work that I've made is ostensibly a documentary about Arrow's suspended rollercoaster, but I hope it's more of a visual essay on the bizarre aesthetics of the rides than an academic history lesson. I've entirely assembled it from archive footage from dozens of different sources, and merely pieced it together into an interesting patchwork.
I've tried to make rollercoasters beautiful, even movingly so, by juxtaposing archive footage with carefully selected music choices. A few people I've previewed this to have commented that they think the Bat/Leonard Cohen section of the film is too long, but I disagree. For me, it forms the heart of the film, and the balance of that song ('Suzanne') and that grainy footage is very moving.
This work is heavily inspired by the documentaries of Adam Curtis, particularly The Century of the Self (2002) and All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (2011). If you haven't seen his stuff, I'd recommend you do so as soon as you can. Thanks Adam.
The film
I've put it on Dropbox because I don't really know what else to do with it. I recommend you download the file and watch it from your computer rather than streaming it from Dropbox, if you want the best visual experience.
I hope you find it interesting and enjoyable if you watch it. I recommend full-screen. Thankyou for saying nice things about my geeky stuff in the past.
Vimeo link: https://vimeo.com/57287212
Music list:
The Velvet Underground - Sunday Morning
Aphex Twin - Jynweythek
The Velvet Underground - I'm Waiting For My Man
Leonard Cohen - Suzanne
Cocteau Twins - Evangeline
Air - Sexy Boy
Boris - Statement
With my writings, I've tried to upgrade the standard of prose about theme parks and rollercoasters. But I've become more frustrated as I've written these articles, that the written form doesn't allow me to express what I want to say completely. I'm not sure how well the visual excess and jazzy rom-pom-pom of the world of theme parks translates into dry written pieces.
I've become interested in the idea of documentary, of college. Watching amateur rollercoaster documentaries, I've been very disappointed with their quality. They are often, let's be honest, un-watchable. I think this is down to two main reasons:
- People using their own footage, which is often poor quality, and looks unprofessional. It also only tends to be obvious that they only have access to their local park.
- People narrating themselves. Very few people have access to studio-quality microphones, but worse than that, their own voices often sound almost comically unprofessional. Especially if they have anything approaching a Bolton/Liverpool accent.
In making my own work, I've eliminated both completely. The former, by using a cut-up college style, trying to weave dozens of found clips into a coherent visual narrative. The latter, by using subtitles instead of a voice-over.
The work that I've made is ostensibly a documentary about Arrow's suspended rollercoaster, but I hope it's more of a visual essay on the bizarre aesthetics of the rides than an academic history lesson. I've entirely assembled it from archive footage from dozens of different sources, and merely pieced it together into an interesting patchwork.
I've tried to make rollercoasters beautiful, even movingly so, by juxtaposing archive footage with carefully selected music choices. A few people I've previewed this to have commented that they think the Bat/Leonard Cohen section of the film is too long, but I disagree. For me, it forms the heart of the film, and the balance of that song ('Suzanne') and that grainy footage is very moving.
This work is heavily inspired by the documentaries of Adam Curtis, particularly The Century of the Self (2002) and All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (2011). If you haven't seen his stuff, I'd recommend you do so as soon as you can. Thanks Adam.
The film
I've put it on Dropbox because I don't really know what else to do with it. I recommend you download the file and watch it from your computer rather than streaming it from Dropbox, if you want the best visual experience.
I hope you find it interesting and enjoyable if you watch it. I recommend full-screen. Thankyou for saying nice things about my geeky stuff in the past.
Vimeo link: https://vimeo.com/57287212
Music list:
The Velvet Underground - Sunday Morning
Aphex Twin - Jynweythek
The Velvet Underground - I'm Waiting For My Man
Leonard Cohen - Suzanne
Cocteau Twins - Evangeline
Air - Sexy Boy
Boris - Statement