“Being there” in the flesh was no distinction for me as a filmmaker; anyone who visits this center of the Occupy movement at Zuccotti Park can see it: for every three people raising their voices in protest, one person is pointing a camera/camcorder/smartphone at them. This park (some signs call it a Zoo) has stimulated hundreds of short films ranging from slick, funded activist productions to shaky, jello-y, smartphone clips on YouTube. They either edit around the whole experience, building up pretty inspiration, or they ramble around the inevitable mess of congestion with mocking inelegance. I saw room for something in-between.

Armed with a large-sensor camcorder that has stunning low-light sensitivity, I went into the Zoo after sunset (when most other gawkers had gone home) for a more cinéma vérité-style documentary approach. It shows everything just as it was, but builds to a climax that is worth waiting for.

[For my companion piece — a short music video juxtaposing time-lapse and slow-motion footage — see vimeo.com/​hpmoon/​occupy.]

Filmed and edited by H. Paul Moon / Zen Violence Films | zenviolence.com

This short music video combines slow-motion footage that I captured on October 10, 2011 at Zuccotti Park (center of the Occupy Wall Street protest), with time-lapse and other location footage from my earlier work-in-progress “Financial Capital.”

The music and lyrics of Nitzer Ebb (here, a non-commercial use) began ringing in my ears when I immersed myself in Zuccotti Park. Rather like Laibach and other European musical “industrialists,” Nitzer Ebb’s aesthetic of domination that borders on Fascism is simple mockery. By juxtaposing this song of corporate submission (“Payroll”) with our once-in-a-generation outcry against financial injustice, I invite rumination while staying carefully agnostic about the essence of Occupy Wall Street.

Filmed and edited by H. Paul Moon / Zen Violence Films | zenviolence.com