Saturday Evening in Jackson Heights, Queens: Feel the Pain

Fed up with the dysfunction of New York City’s streets, people all around the city are picking up video cameras and making their own StreetFilms. The one above is pretty amazing. Unless you like the sound of car horns honking, make sure your volume is turned down before you press “play.”

This StreetFilm was produced by Will Sweeney and Kozo Okumura around the palindrome intersection of 37th Ave. and 73rd St. in Jackson Heights, Queens on a Saturday evening at about 6 pm. Will writes:

We put together the video because we wanted to show
how visceral the problem is on a daily basis. The problem of traffic
congestion has so many side effects that are difficult to communicate
in words or still images. Also, most residents would cite noise as the
main complaint, particularly horn honking.

Will and Kozo are part of a growing group of neighborhood
documentarians who are submitting work to StreetFilms. Last
month Brooklynite Doug Gordon shot this video of car traffic illegally entering Prospect Park. Likewise, Ian Dutton of Community Board 2 in Manhattan has been video-taping bike facilities to show the reality of what it takes to get around New York City on a bicycle, at times.

So how about you? It doesn’t take much these days. You don’t
need a great camera, just some patience, steady hand and an idea that you want to communicate. Check out
some of our StreetFilm-making tips then send it in to us to post.