Yearning to Ride a Unicycle

A long-held desire…

Trevor: Why would you want to ride a unicycle? At your age.

Cecil: When I was ten I saw a town parade. Floats to celebrate spring blossoms, to usher in a good apple season.

Trevor: Floats?

Cecil: A platform mounted on a truck carrying a display. Many of them were local companies advertising their products. The big float was decked with blossom decorations and carried the annual blossom queen.

Trevor: A shapely young female presumably?

Cecil: Exactly. But in front of the float the town band played, pipers marched behind, and alongside young men on unicycles wobbled along. I was in awe that they could balance on one wheel.

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Voice-over

The Hastings Blossom Festival marks the beginning of spring and the growing season. Of course the floats are the main attraction but some seem to be attracted by the sideshows.

Visual Vignettes from Incredible India

An attempt to capture a festival on film…

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Anil: Take any pictures?

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Tara: Four hundred photos. Forty footage clips. That’s after pre-editing and throwing out the failures.

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Anil: Is there a theme? Is there a message? Is there a story coming through?

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Tara: That’s the trouble. Shooting randomly at a festival. Lots of tiny vignettes but no story running though them all. And not many audible comments.

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Anil: It was an Indian festival. In Tokyo. Multiculturalism?

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Tara: Indian dances with Japanese dancers. Food, culture, music, people. And parrots. A lot of fun.

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Voice-over

Festivals may seem rich seams for filming. Leaving aside the difficulties of shooting in crowds, the blurs, the interrupted shots, it is possible to create short stories told in images and short takes. A series of visual vignettes.

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