No Escape

No Escape is based on the concept of documentary display, an approach that encourages listening and looking rather than cognitive understanding. It conveys a belief in the supremacy of sound and in the idea of film as a performance, as witnessed in the days of early cinema when ‘silent’ films were accompanied not only by live musicians but by live sound effects troupes.
The title refers to the idea that though we may travel to get away from something, there is no escape from the inner life. This is represented by the piano music, which varies within fairly restricted limits and though it does respond to or drive image choice and editing, the overall sense should be that one cannot escape and these responses are temporary and fleeting. The sense of movement and traveling does provide a very loose narrative (and harks back to the early travelogues of the silent film era) but there is no specific story being told.

There is a personal subtext being worked out in No Escape – the attempt to escape is real. I shot most of the images alone on various journeys around the UK and Ireland using a variety of cameras of greatly differing quality. Keith Marley assisted with some footage shot in Liverpool and offered valuable editing advice.
The general idea is that understanding and ‘knowledge’ for the viewer / listener is gleaned via a poetic, sensual engagement with sound and image. This understanding therefore may vary widely.