APD Week 10 - Play and Nature

THEME

The place I live is surrounded by not only freeways and busy roads, but parks and creeks. So naturally, when it comes to this week's theme, it is the perfect location. There's a long stormwater drain next to my house called Moonee Ponds Creek that is also a major tributary of the Yarra River. It's completely flooded when it rains, but on the regular days, it turns into a wide footpath for exercising. No matter the weather, there's always water flowing in the middle. Although the location is not entirely natural, I decided to create a game called 'Leaf Racing' by using elements of nature - stream.

CONTEXT

I mainly took inspirations from Mario Kart because the creek shares resemblance to various courses in the game. The speed of the flow constantly changes because of the shape of the creek and the things that has sunk to the bottom of the water. They form natural hurdles which add a bit of uncertainty to the race. The plants that grows on both sides of the creek are like audience cheering up for the contestants. These elements are what gives narratives to my video.

METHOD

'Leaf Racing' is not all about leaves. It's a game where two people pick up a natural token each as their racing vehicle, and drop them into the stream to see which one reaches the finishing point first. I asked my boyfriend Dennis to participate in this game since it needs two players. We first scouted the area and marked a route as our racing track which is roughly 1km long. Then, we picked up whatever plants/scraps we can find nearby  as long as it's organic, and throw them into the creek at the same time. I filmed the race as I followed the flower and the branch crossing the hurdles in the creek. Later, I added Mario Kart music to make the race more exciting.

REFLECTION

The biggest challenge was that I was hoping to film the race in multiple camera angles, but I couldn't get to the other side of the creek. The two tokens were too close to the edge sometimes so I wasn't able to get a good shot. However, I still think it's a fun experience because of the excitement, anticipation and suspense we felt in this race. Nature provides us a playground where we can make up our own rule and be free, which is very valuable in this world full of restrictions.

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/ftbyiWYVP6s