Every day, we as individuals, live day by day impacting the world in some way or another, whether one notices or not. Most of the time, we do not. There is a particular concept, known as, “not in my backyard,” which essentially stems from the desire to keep your own neighborhood or community safe and separate from the realities of the outside world. Unfortunately, industrial projects and polluting industries tend to end up in the backyards of areas with low incomes and higher percentages of people of color. Those with societal privilege typically maintain this, “not in my backyard” mentality, however, they also play a massive role in consumerism, which leads to supply and demand for factories all over the world. In Photographer Edward Burtynsky’s documentary “Manufactured Landscapes,” he features an array of stunning and thought-provoking images of different landscapes transformed by industrial processes, such as mines, factories, and urban developments, that explore the impact of industrialization and…show more content… In Burtynsky’s documentary, it becomes quite evident that there’s a favorable cinematic technique used to effectively convey the impact of industrialization, this technique being long and slow panning shots. For example, as the audience presses play, the documentary displays a single extended clip of employees working in a factory, seemingly constructing pieces of different household items, which plays out for about five minutes and thirty seconds before introducing any dialogue. Why is this the case? From an outside perspective, this may be perceived as mundane and un-exciting, however, filming long shots, especially in this context, captures the true vastness and extent of industrial
