I’m interested in doing my visual poem centered around the High Line. From a filming perspective, I think that the park would be incredibly visually compelling and uniquely representative of New York “nature.” Since it is a public space, it would be somewhat accessible to film in without having to receive extensive permissions.
I think it would be interesting to start with someone coming off the actual subway before traveling to the refurbished rails. I would either want to follow one distinctive person or group of people as they travel down the park, with cutaways to the surrounding scenes. I think that between the art, length of the rails, and fauna, there would be a good opportunity to get both wide and close shots.
The park would also probably come with a lot of interesting natural sound to work with. I’m anticipating being able to layer clips of people speaking and laughing as well as street noise and the rustle of leaves in wind.
Some challenges I’m anticipating are working in a cramped space and weather conditions. If I recall correctly, the High Line is supposed to be the most-visited New York City attraction, and the crowd of people on a good day might make it difficult to set up large equipment. Working in the rain or with harsh wind also seems sort of difficult.
I’m also not sure that there’s much of an angle to this piece? If I had to go with something, I would probably want to explore the idea of the High Line either being a respite from the city, as they pride themselves for being in promotional material, or merely a tourist hell. I’m not sure if that’d be enough to carry an already highly-covered attraction.