SCOUTING FRESHKILLS PARK ON ONE OF THE COLDEST DAYS OF THE YEAR
So many of you know that we've been working with Freshkills Park Alliance over the past few months to construct a script for a video that we will be shooting throughout early 2013. First up will be the former Parks Commissioner, Adrian Benepe from his new diggs at the Trust for Public Land this week. However, in preparation for our on-site shoots once the weather shifts to warm spring growth, I headed out to the site to scout the future park with a group of Freshkills converts aka staff.
This project has a variety of unique issues that it presents in so far as how do you produce a video on a park that is yet to open and only has people (non-Dept of Parks or Sanitation workers) on any of the grounds a couple of times a year. Another aspect which I think the picture speak to is the sheer scale of the place. I mean, it is multiple times the size of Central Park and is subdivided into three sections by the natural contours of the Freskills Creek and it's two tributaries, the Richmond Creek and Main Creek, and a fourth by highway 440. So, rarely do you actually get to see the landfill-turning-park in its totality or grasp its massive size unless you're looking down from outer space. Note, this site made headlines year ago because it was actually viewable from outer space when it was a landfill! To even further distort your perspective of scale there are few things on the various hills that could help you such as trees, cars, people, structures... anything. One of the most compelling moments for me during the trip came when we were on the South Mound when a Dept. of Sanitation SUV cruised along the road which runs down the spine of the East Mound. At that moment with sprawling Staten Island strip-malls and housing providing a backdrop, did the vastness of this amazing place finally shock me into perspective. Watching that little tiny vehicle reminded me of a rover on mars, while it drove along a landscape of odd bulbs outs that capture the precious methane pushing up from the decades of decomposing trash below.
As we move forward with this project, this very specific yet undeniably unique quality of space will be an intriguing aspect to relay though our cameras. We're looking forward to the challenge and will likely shoot some B-Roll using either a helium balloon with a camera or a helicopter camera drone to help provide the expansive feeling that these rolling hills induce when you're there in person. We are constantly attempting to put our cinematic minds in the frame set of all who will watch the video and continue to ask the same questions we asked as we began to devour this vast and globally innovative new park for the citizens of New York. Where and what is exactly Freshkills Park.
