In Time Stepping (1974), Raban takes the relation between time, the actual time of filming and its representation back onto the screen as a starting point for what Le Grice describes as a 'rhythmic space-time game played by two cameras'.
The cameras rapidly shoot and pan from a doorway to both ends of the
street and the two sets of footage are edited together, with overlaps
superimposed. Again, there is a 'cubist' effect as the image seems to try
and tear itself from the screen.
Two other films also play with time in this way. In Colours of This
Time (1972), Raban undertakes a formal experiment, exploring the colour
temperature of daylight as it changes in the context of a static park
scene over the course of a day. The film has a sharp, inventive use of
time-lapse and takes the time to play with formal 'structures' while still
retaining a strong aesthetic quality (Raban's work is strong on the beauty
of composition, even when unintentionally!). Autumn Scenes (1978) consists
of three parts each showing a different approach to the use of screen
space by (in the first two sections) using a moving camera and juddering
jump cut editing that creates an expressionistic effect. In Concrete Fall
this draws attention to the relations between dead concrete materials and
organic movement. Fergus Walking again mirrors After Duchamp in its cubist
representation of a moving figure. The films also reveal Raban's fondness
for editing in camera and why he likes to edit slowly with film and manual
cutting "The speed relating to the natural rhythms of my own thought
process".
Amongst the different qualities in Rabans film there is a direct
literary aspect that has tended to be neglected in much of the critical
writing. For example, the composition of Thames Film (1986) is notable in
that the mixture of old footage, photographs, maps, drawings and sketches
are juxtaposed with film of the river shot from a mostly low point of view
- on a small boat - that ebbs and flows with the river tides. The
soundtrack includes spoken testimony, a record of the same journey made in
1787 and snatches of readings from Eliot. This, together with the
conflation of rich textual material, gives the impression of a diary, a
record that contains and contrasts past and present whilst generating new
meanings from the tension between the two. Raban continued aspects of this
approach in From 60 Degrees North (1991), commissioned by Channel Four.
One of the many strengths of both this and Thames Film is the hint at
experiments with the documentary form that followed whilst having roots in
the earlier, more direct 'landscape' pieces like Thames Barrier.
