31 Days has been selected for the London Short Film Festival 2017. The still above from the film shows from left to right: lichen from Magpie Bridge in the Tavy valley north of Plymouth, the weather vane of Charles Church filmed from the top deck of a multi-storey car park before it was demolished for the new Drake Circus, and a biker at St Andrew’s Cross roundabout.
I remember each filming episode quite clearly although they were all separate in time and place despited being placed together in the editing process. The biker was (probably) the earliest and was filmed on a Canon 814 Super 8 camera which I’d bought. Any earlier filming was on borrowed cameras – there was possibly only one previous roll which included filming in Finborough Road, Chelsea.
It’s interesting to reflect whether filming and reviewing these scenes ‘fixes’ the memories. The lichen on a tree triggers memories of visiting a new place, parking and walking away from the river – activities which weren’t caught on film. Similarly I recall setting up and filming at the top of the brutalist car park very clearly – extratextual recollections.
