Friday, October 08, 2010

Great stories, Good stories and then some - Videojournalism

David in China with one of the prominent tech firms

I've had my head down on various projects and soon hope to modify a manifesto for future collaborative work. 

Meanwhile I have been reflecting on this title Great stories, Good stories and then some - Videojournalism - which I was going to call something like Puddles in the Sky.

Henri Bergson said affection and memory make perception impure - that we give over to familiarity. This is a well trodden path for philosophers, exploited by modern day marketeers and generally people a generation ahead of you.

When the Rolling Stones  circa 60s were carving out their careers, teenagers were warned by their parents to steer clear of their medium and message.  When a film generally wins an Oscar it's because it conforms to affection and memory.

This is not a criticism of the film maker. Gosh we all wish we were that good.
The nature of good stories
There are great stories, good stories and then some - and their rewards are not always ratified.

Great stories - have it all. Plot, characters, richness, scores. Good stories all but got there but played to familiarity a little too much.

But then there's the some. The some is not the haplesss mediocre ones that got away, but the ones that break convention, that seek ingenuity by taking risks, that rarely have antecedents and sear a hole in your consciousness.

There's something about it. But you find it difficult to explain. You might try any number of film discourses and probably succeed, but in truth you're being taxed of a new vocabulary.

There are great stories and then some.  The great stories have a familiarity, the and some challenge you. Things are done that little bit differently. We attempt sometimes to explain away this disembodiment - ie you can't be asked, as Art.

And that in its eventuality may be so. Next week I'm presenting to a panel on this.. and some..and my focus is videojournalism ~ expressions that challenge a given form in the relationship of author and his work and his work with the audience.

How in ways we can look to embracing haptic vision as it exists in other new media forms into video factual story.

I'll expand more during the week