My del.icio.us
Bank of Screens
I watched Red Road during the week. I thought it was great. But then I’m obsessed with all things to do with surveillance.
The woman in it gets to watch this huge bank of screens and follow people around on them. I am totally against this kind of thing but I would really love to have a go of one. Just sitting there watching people doing regular things would fascinate me. In some way I think that’s where my fascination for videoblogs - and by that I mean regular people’s short, personal video offerings - comes from. Little glimpses into everyday life can be so telling. On their own they can be kind of boring and mundane, but in aggregate they are a huge story. I guess that’s why the bank of cameras is so compelling - you’ve got your compendium of views right there in front of you.
Last week at work I got access to some footage from a police ride along that one of the reporters did. The cast offs had some really great stuff in them. There was some stuff from an actual real life bank of cameras in Belfast. And also a policeman on the beat showing off for the camera. He did a practise search of some young men. I find it really poignant for some reason. Why did they agree to let a policeman search them? Did they really feel they had a choice? The young lads seem incredibly sweet and they’re pretty funny. I guess it’s not the typical interaction between a policeman and some young lads as he is gently chiding them and they are ribbing him and he is fully aware of that but ignores it. Basically like a teacher and some rascally teenagers at school.
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