Thunderstorm at Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan

Recorded on Tuesday, 7 May 1996, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Southern Thailand.

We are so conditioned to approach a film or video as a kind of text which is to be read – rather than really looked at and listened to. In this convention, the shots in the edited sequence are all subservient to the script or narrative – like words in a sentence. A shot is only held long enough to be ‘read and understood’ before cutting to the next¹. By extending the durations of the shots into minutes rather than seconds, the viewer, after having superficially ‘scanned’ or ‘read’ the shot – expecting another shot to swiftly follow – is cut off ‘mid sentence’… dropped into a semantic no-man’s land. 
Nothing happens, and an immediate mental discomfort sets in… the hand reaches for the remote control to escape this unsatisfying state – but WAIT! 
The onus is now squarely on the viewer to extract value from this sensory input – this experience. You now have the time to really look at the scene presented and listen to the sounds criss-crossing and enveloping it. The more you invest of your attention, your own time – your being – the richer the experience becomes. What’s more, the scene becomes your own, since you can select what to focus on, what to observe or listen to. Yes, this is a mediated experience, but an experience nonetheless.
Sure, you certainly don’t need to take in the ‘second-hand’ scene in this video. I would recommend that you sit down somewhere and simply watch the world go by. Take the time, give yourself the opportunity to enjoy the magic and mystery of every little thing in the real world around you. I hate sounding like some self-help guru, but I really aspire for art to make us love life in this world – in all its beauty and sadness – or maybe – despite all its beauty and sadness.
I haven’t yet mentioned the formal elephant in this video – keeping the shot out of focus for extended periods of time, or slowly going in or out of focus. During the nineties I experimented a lot with soft focus – and what it means. I find it a fascinating subject and have written a lot about it. In due time I will publish those texts and videos².
PS: Viewers might be interested that on the same day, I also recorded the footage for another – very different, video – Bhumisparsa.

1: I urge the viewer to watch any movie or TV series with the sound turned off. Then simply count the cuts, and notice how short the shots are.
2: My videos Camcorder Viaticum, and The Photographer are good examples.