Travis Fox’s “The Pioneer of the Ninth Ward” is a great example of minimalist storytelling that succeeds because of technical finesse and Fox’s eye for the aesthetically pleasing.
First of all, the camera work, like all of Fox’s work, is rock solid to the point where the story evolves like a photo slideshow, complete with the artistic bent of that medium.
Fox created this story to fit the subject matter, letting the audio and camera work move in a slow rhythm from frame to frame, mixing with the overgrown fields and dilapidated, abandoned houses.
The sequences flowed as though we could have met this woman and the street and were invited into her home. The general quiet of the natural sound gave an intimacy to the story that might be lost, a quality further helped by the soft indoor lighting and dark contours of the “pioneer’s” face as she watches the television.
Even with the deeply human perspective, Fox made sure to address the broader issues of government funding and a New Orleans possibly forever changed. t’s a sad story with not much hope, and Fox conveys this with many wide-angles of the stark and empty surroundings as well as detail shots of the trashed remnants of human life.
This also helps the audio. The all-important hope that this woman feels bites with more force and irresistable empathy when it is spoken in a low-voice still crystal clear through the excellent mike job. The entire video was sequences, but always performed with the same methodical perfection of time, lighting and angle.
In short, I wish I had his equipment and his job.

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