Fish In Water
Fish in Water is an experimental city symphony short film by Ian Devine. The project explores our relationship with the natural world, highlights the irony of the bureaucratization of nature, and urges us to question the repetitive and rushed industrial essence of our cities. We often don’t notice the world around us. In the words of well known sound designer Walter Murch, paraphrasing an often cited proverb, “Fish are the last to become aware of the water in which they swim.” Taken from his foreword to Michel Chion’s Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen (1994), Murch claims that as sound technology advances, we take sound for granted. Inspired by early city symphony films like The City by Steiner and Van Dyke, the work of Shirley Clarke, nature documentaries such as Koyaanisqatsi, and the experimental film work of Mary Lattimore, Fish in Water features field recordings, footage from throughout the D.C area, an original synth composition, and silence.