the gorilla in the sci-fi classic “Odyssey”

Photo by Marco Paolo Z. Lambino (i think he shot this behind a glass, he caught the action but it has a grainy texture), Zoobic in Subic  24 Dec. 2007

        If  i  had filmed that  seawalker  (see previous blog post, below) you would see a full body shot  then slow pan , each   and all of them, then zoom  out to give you  context; then i would edit it in a sequence  to tell you a story. But  the child, he plunged right in. Did you see what he did? (but he doesn’t explain it  to me, the way i’d break down concepts when asked  to elaborate; i’m doing it again here! Duh.). He focused on the long thin  swaying vine-like antennae (eyes) and the long, spidery, thorny  crawler-legs , all  of which  filled up the entire frame such that you  feel that you’d  gone inside  the aquarium, and became  a tiny being beneath their “tentacles”. And then he’s done. If i had filmed it i would be more interested in the light and the “balance” of the objects inside the frame and the color, and yes, the story. I’m interested in giving information about objects and subjects and context and that’s it; we were gonna eat the crustaceans. He’s not interested in those “production values”; well not yet.  And maybe that is his story. He went inside the aquarium . And  swam in there. 

     I’m just telling a story. He can imagine  a different reality.     

         (i don’t know, i didn’t ask him. I don’t want to structure the way he films things.) 

           I just wrote  this  to suggest  that, like children’s drawings, video and film done by children, before they are sent  to  formal film  seminars  and courses, could be an entire genre, or a new genre.  I don’t know, i’m not a child psychologist or film connoisseur . But  they seem to see things differently. When his younger brother  was  filming  him while he was eating in the kitchen, the younger brother was giggling and giggling so hard. What was so funny, i didn’t get it.  Anyway, they look at things differently. If you want to get a glimpse of how they see the world, you could let  them  film, and look at  it as a genre like children’s drawings. As long as  they know how to  handle  the gizmo, you could probably restrain  yourself from  giving them instructions on what to film and how to go about it, you can just observe them. I don’t know what’s “old enough to handle the gizmo”, i’m no expert. (have you noticed how these gadgets have been made perfect for little children’s fingers, i  have  to shake  the  small device  several times  to  get out  the  sliver of a memory card, duh, there’s  actually a tiny lever  there  that  pops  it out you know, but i  still  have  to  do a little shake-down,  i’m  like  that  gorilla  in  the opening  scene  of  the  classic  sci-fi “Odyssey”;  but  the child,  he just tweezes them out softly with his tiny little fingers. An adult’s finger is too big to get inside the compartment of the battery and memory card. Child labor! ha ha). Of course you have to watch out for snatchers while in public places, this is the Philippines.           

        Wouldn’t it be interesting to let them  do some filming  before they become structured and sent to  formal  visual courses? 

           Anyway, I just thought it could be a new genre, videos taken by children. Like children’s drawings.  I’m rambling on.