3/24/08 Lecture

I chose to analyze the image of the dump trucks unloading the rocks into the water during the construction of the actual spiral jetty. In relation to the film, we see the completed spiral throughout most of the film including the film. For me this shot was really the only one which showed the construction of spiral and how a man made object can look so natural and connected with nature and the surroundings. This shot was really the only one showing machinery, being the dump truck, reminding us as viewers that this was man-made and that man-power was really the only way for something like this to happen in nature. I think this can be viewed as both a good and bad thing. It is good because it helps ground us by knowing how it was made but bad at the same time because it ruins that illusion and mystery about it and not allowing the imagination to dream up the ways it could have been formed. After this shot in the film, I believe it was followed by the creator sort of jogging the entire spiral until he reached the middle from a helicopter's point of view. I think this technique should have been used in the dump truck scene rather than the eye-level view because it would have put the spiral jetty into perspective more of it's actual size. A helicopter view shot of the dump truck would have also contrasted nicely of the man jogging shot earlier stated.