The High Life

A flight simulator from the perspective of a passenger. Named after the BA magazine, 'The High Life' is a computer emulation of the on-board experience of flying on Concorde complete with in-flight catering. As an encounter that is no longer directly accessible to any (and was only ever accessible to few), digital animation seems an apt medium to use in its recreation and redistribution. Today, location is not so much defined by geography, but by our position within the complex web of processes that make up contemporary society. Increasing complexity is often presented as the illusion of ‘progress’ where we seem to exist in a perpetual state of transit. This illusion can often be seen in a series of ‘false dawns’ or ‘false futures’ around technology sold on this basis, using what, in hind sight, prove to be hopelessly optimistic visions of the future. A good example of such a technological cul-de-sac is Concorde. Presented as a solution to the challenge of high speed communication that used Harold Wilson’s ‘white hot technology’ of the sixties, it promised a future of rapid mass transport and a shrinking world. However, the oil crisis, a belated realisation of the environmental impact and the advent of the internet (which removed much of the need for rapid physical transport) has created a very different future. Given that travelling on Concorde is no longer accessible to any (and was only ever accessible to very few), computer animation seemed an apt medium to use in its virtual resurrection and redistribution. In that sense, the ‘High Life’ attempts to use the technology of that unanticipated digital future to resurrect that defunct vision from the past. 3D modelling and rendering in Blender, animation and editing in Premiere. Original Format: 1920x1080, 16:9, 25fps, 2 channel sound. Concorde font used for titles. Production Date 2015