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In his book The Medium is the Message, Marshall McLuhan pulls together a collection of quotes (64) from American composer John Cage:
"The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all. This puts one in accord with nature, in her manner of operation."
"Everyone is in the best seat."
"Everything we do is music."
Why do I feel the compulsion to record, I wonder? To raise my phone, or camera, or pencil, even, and take a snapshot, a video, a sketch, or a quote of the moment. I reason that it's practice for my cinematography, but I rarely return to that moment to consider my shot. I simply enjoy the act of record-making. That seems to be in line with Cage, in that I am acting without a purpose other than the pursuit of joy.
I also enjoy making music. SUNROOF is a short song I made recently, that felt somehow both plodding yet fast, organic yet artificial. I knew that I had some video's saved of horse races, and, examining their composition, I shot some footage of traffic to compliment them. By coincidence, I got footage of my friend Oli walking across a frozen lake recently, and soon realized that these three modes of transportation - walking, horseback, and driving - all carried a rhythm that reminded me of SUNROOF. And so I made a music video.
I've never returned to old footage in this way. Either I shoot footage with intent for immediate use or only for my own satisfaction. But by having a finger both on the present and on the past, and feeling the music in both, I feel that I have somehow proved McLuhan's concerns of "marching backward into the future", as I was only ever able to interpret my current moment through comparison to the past. Even when on the lake with Oli, I couldn't help but to return to thinking about that horse track.
Should I return to SUNROOF in the future, I will be able to build on it by obtaining more footage, thus walking further into the future backward.
Thanks,
CJM
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