'A Methodological Parkour'

Firstly, apologies for the poor quality - both the visual aspect and overall film production on my part. I had to downsize the original video as it contained a large amount of MBs. Secondly, I feel that I should explain my intentions with this 'film'. I consciously chose my iPhone to record my project, as I aimed to remove myself from the act of 'photographer'; I often find myself focusing all of my attention upon the confines of the camera lens, and trying to frame compositions with my Canon digital SLR, rather than being aware of the entirety of my surrounds. My photographs and footage in this project are often blurred, a product of the device I was using as well as my own movements, as I went from forward strides to halts and pauses as I considered the consistency of spaces around me.

My main aim was to produce a 'scheme' or path for a possible traceur, whilst paying particular attention to two key elements: how we are lead through the city space, and the texture of objects and buildings. The soundtrack is

Girl Talk, 'Can't Stop', and I have chosen this music for a particular purpose. Girl Talk, the stagename of Greg Gillis, is a DJ who produces music through digital sampling; he creates a hybrid album from a variety of musical sources, but largely combines rap and popular music genres. He is a poster-boy for the possibilities (and also controversial problems) for producing music and dispersing it through the internet. Girl Talk does not record CDs, but instead provides all of his albums for free download upon his website. Girl Talk, like parkour, uses the internet to disseminate information and identity.

Lastly, there are two different 'paths' that I have constructed in this project. I considered my original path as flawed. I then realised that my reasons for this are actually beneficial to my own understanding of how we can understand the city space through the method of parkour.

I will post further explanations as to the content of this homework project after our class on Wednesday October 10, 2012.

Amelia.