Running To Escape
For many people the action of running allows an escape from the demands and stresses of life. When running all you think about is where you go. Escaping the thoughts that linger in your mind related to the everyday life e.g. work problems, family problems …
Running has helped me with my mental health. It helps clear my mind, pushing my body allows for me to concentrate on just running and nothing else. Running is as much about pushing the mind as it is the body. Pushing my mind while running helped teach me perseverance and self believe.
Runners High
A runner's high is a brief, deeply relaxing state of euphoria. Euphoria is a sense of extreme joy or delight. In this case, it occurs after intense or lengthy exercise. Often, people who experience a runner's high also report feeling less anxiety and pain immediately after their run.
Running helps us shift our brains from big-picture anxieties to small, in-the-moment tasks of focusing on a goal, says clinical psychologist Laura Fredendall. If we’re running in nature, we gain additional mood-enhancing benefits. And combining running with meditation can be an even more potent antidote to depression. This may be because both activities affect the same portions of the brain and promote focus and concentration, which are associated with improved moods.
The work of Lenny Maughan is well related to the utilisation of tracking devices. He who went viral after he ran 30 miles to sketch an image of Frida Kahlo. Lenny uses the social fitness app Strava to create amazing pieces of ‘running art;’ carefully planning his route beforehand to run in the pattern of a certain image with the streets of San Fran as his canvas. Lenny uses his creativity to play with the way in which the app records the data of its users.
When it comes to observing runners a very logical way of doing so would be by utilising tracking devices e.g. strava. How do these devices track using gps. How can I incorporate collected running data into a video e.g. cutting in between the footage of me running and the app tracking me, the app runs on gps and code therefore it is unable to express itself the same as the video will show.
"With fitness apps that hoover up more and more data, it can be hard to split the difference. Consider Strava. The fitness app, which shares running and cycling routes on its social network, came under fire this week after releasing a heatmap that showed the global activity of its millions of users. The map revealed more than just where people like to jog. By looking at the data, you could find the borders of secret military outposts, as well as track patrol routes of soldiers at those bases. As a national security issue the implications are huge. It should also be a reminder to consumers that data collected by fitness apps reveal a lot about you and how you move about the world. And that data doesn’t always stay on your phone."
Pardes, A., 2021. Your Fitness Apps Give Away Tons of Privacy. Here's How to Protect It. [online] Wired. Available at: [Accessed 21 November 2021].
The Nike Running App which is the app that I use to record my runs has the option of listening to someone motivate you while you are running. There are various other apps that also offer this feature. This feature of audio coaching for guided motivation could tie nicely into the creation of a video for the project.
A form of observation I could collect would be visiting a running club or park run then filming some people, taking pictures and writing down what I notice about people e.g. the differences in running actions. Asking certain runners questions e.g. Why do you run? How was running helped you? This will provide me with more research for the project and content for the video.
FILMING RUNNING
How can I achieve the same look as some of the footage I like. The above scene from CHUNGKING EXPRESS really catches my eye. Its unconventional filming style using a slow shutter speed creates the effect of lingering colours when viewing. This gives the impression to the viewer that they are also running. Could I achieve this by turning the shutter speed down on one of my cam corders.
Research into how running is filmed by people e.g. how it is filmed at a professional level. Often vehicles are used to fill because they are the only things that can travel fast enough to steadily film the athletes. Furthermore because of the nature of long distance running athletes often run in groups so the filmers have to focus on whole groups of runners.
Test 1
The following footage I got from my first attempt at shooting a test video of myself running as a from of escape. Two fellow students helped me get the footage, one of them rode their bike and the other sat win the back rack facing me backwards, filming me while I ran after the bike.
For the first shot Freddie used a Canon digital camera which had a recording option also. No camera holding gear was used. When editing the video I decided to edit the audio making sure that the only sound that could be heard was my footsteps. The aim of this was to solely focus on the action of running. For a period within the video I cut out all the audio this was paired with a slo-mo shot of me running this created a sudden mount of silence and calmness reflecting the feeling I experience when running and the calming that it does to my mind and its escape.
The shot to the right is also from the video. I ran by the side of the bike this allowed for Freddie the videographer to record my legs from a side angle which resulted in a striking shot. When editing this I layered the same shot on top of each other this gave the effect of a blur similar to the CHUNGKING EXPRESS SCENE.
Observing Running
Strava Art
Running with Depression
In some of the following running scenes from movies the actors are wearing normal outfits. This gives the impression that they have been forced to run for some reason e.g. they are being chased. I could play with this when filming my own running scene.
The commentary is surrounding how people running technique looks and predictions on who is going to win… I could work with the idea of commentary and commentate on people running from something. Commentating on conditions, athletes,
The sketch below pictures a plan of the setup of my first attempt at filming someone running. The idea for this seemed instinctive because I love running so when I got the chance to pic running as a form of escape I wanted someone to film me doing something that I enjoy.
Running & the Brain
"Exercise is a simple intervention that profoundly benefits cognition. In rodents, running increases neurogenesis in the hippocampus, a brain area important for memory. We describe the dynamic changes in new neuron number and afferent connections throughout their maturation. We highlight the effects of exercise on the neurotransmitter systems involved, with a focus on the role of glutamate and acetylcholine in the initial development of new neurones in the adult brain.
In humans, physical activity benefits hippocampus-dependent memory and prefrontal cortex-mediated executive function, and may maintain neural gray and white matter volume over the lifespan. The onset of effects of exercise on the brain and behaviour is rapid and evolves over time. Initially, neurotransmitter levels and blood flow are changed, followed by an up-regulation of growth factors in the brain and the genesis of new neurones in the hippocampus."
Vivar, C. and Praag, H., 2017. Running Changes the Brain: the Long and the Short of It. [online] PMC. Available at: [Accessed 21 November 2021].
Test 2
For the second test of filming I am going to use a iPhone to film and a Osmo DJI phone holding recording device. In the previous test I placed the camera at the back of the bike filmed me chasing, in this test I am going to place the Osmo holding device on the front attaching it to the bars, I will run in front of the bike this will give the viewer the impression that they are the chaser. Editing both the shots from test 1 and 2 together should give a range of angles to the video. I will also wear the same outfit for the video but then experiment with wearing a different outfit choice that will add to the narrative. I want the video to skip between different characters and then a group of characters running.
I need to begin thinking about the what happens that places me in the situation in which I have to be on the run or running toward something.
Photos of "Runners"
Creating a photo book or zine full of pictures taken on an iPhone of people running. Random people that I see one the street running wether from people running as a form of exercise or to catch the bus, escape from the shop keeper ...
This aims to express the fact that running is ingrained into human nature and that It extends beyond just being a form of exercise or competition. Within this I can also play around with the idea of form and commentary on marathon ports recording e.g. on one of the photos place the subtitles "If he can keep this going he can make history" on a photo of a kid running for a bus.
Host system.
What are we running from?
Running from the demands and stresses of regular life.
Running from a situation that we have to escape from e.g. being chased
What are we running towards?
A safe space that you feel protected within
A goal, aim that we have set ourselves.
For the second Test I am going to try and alter the shutter speed on the phone recording, can I download an app that will allow me to do this or will I have to add the effect in while editing the footage. (Test with costume, running while wearing a bally…) Film from same angle and then behind so the viewer is the chaser.
Also do this running with a running app on so that I can use the gps as recorded data to look at and edit into the video
Film someone else running too, try and quick edit between the two people running creating just the person as a static point within the cuts.
Storyboard for short film