Blog 14 - Voice Over

I wanted to really focus my voice over on the context of humanity’s relationship with the beach. It is a relationship I often think about and wonder how exactly it came about. The idea that we have a special relationship with the ocean is a fascinating to me and so I tried to channel that fascination into my work. I came up with this:

I’ve always been fascinated by the beach. To me it’s a kind of enchanted location where two worlds collide. In many ways the beach is the end of the earth. From the sand to the water, one environment shifts gradually into another. In one world there are the terrestrial beings and in the other, the creatures of the deep.

No line so divides the world like that of the shoreline. No barrier so obvious. What we see at the beach is a joining of worlds.

            Why are we drawn here? As humans, the beach is regarded as a place of leisure. We engage in activity, sport, recreation, all in one place. Is it the water? The sand? No one can be sure but it is true that we are drawn to it.

The congregation of people reminds me of days long passed. Days without technology or endless distractions. It was in these days that we had to create new ways to entertain ourselves. I suppose it would always end back on the beach.

It’s a slow place. The pace of runners is muffled by the sand. The struggle of bodies against the waves is like watching fight in slow motion. Those who lay in the sand are still in a landscape that has not been painted. Figures in an unchanged picture.

It is a hypnotic place. The beating of the waves comes in regular, soothing intervals, the sand makes for a soft cushion of ground. The mind cannot help but feel at ease along the sandy shore.

If the great skyscrapers and technology are monuments to man’s progress, then the beach stands in opposition to it all. The beach tells us that we are small and that nature’s monuments are somehow greater, more pure, longer lasting.

The beach is as it has been for millions of years. Since the waters formed the ocean and the ocean eroded away the rocks into sand. It was here before we were. It may well be here long after we are gone.

Humans are just borrowing it.

That text with edits for space, worked pretty nicely with the video and I think all that’s left is to put some finishing touches on the whole thing.