The Lumiere Manifesto, the importance of Momentshowing, and the future of it all for me.
Two of my videoblogger friends, Andreas Haugstrup Pedersen (DK) and Brittany Shoot, (USA) have now published their Lumiere Manifesto.
Here are a few quotes:
Online video has now for years allowed the advancement of personal narratives and showcased the world through the eyes of other video producers. At best, we display an edited view of our worlds. At worst, we destroy important viewpoints through unnecessary editing.
Voice-overs and credit rolls have long been used to over-explain how to interpret video, whereas the creator’s interpretation is not the most valuable perspective.
The value of moving pictures are in their potential for a multitude of interpretations, not as insipid entertainment or propaganda.
Read the rest at videoblogging.info
Here is my very first video on a website, from December 24th, 2004.
(Original blog-post is here)
As I have written several times here on DLTQ.org over the last years, it was a videoblog entry by Ryanne Hodson that finally convinced me that this was something I Really wanted to get involved in - this was a few hours after I had first discovered this thing called “videoblogging” - the first video by Dylan Verdi. It was the random footage, presented by Ryanne in her own fashion, that got me hooked. What if I can also do that? What if I can also present the reality around me to friends from around the world?
At about the same time as I discovered the work of Ryanne, Mica, Michael, Chris, Charlene, Shannon and others, I also very much got into the ethos of Jay Dedman’s videoblogging. He actually calls his vlog “Momentshowing” - and that really struck me. Momentshowing. Showing conversations. Beauty. The little things that make my country what it is, and not a country on the other end of the globe. Sharing particulars and - more importantly - all the things that are common. Our hopes, dreams, our insecurities, fears, anxiety.
When you simply want to show something, the production standard becomes less important. When you show your friend your city, you don’t necessarily treat your friend like a clueless tourist.
I remember a movie I shot while in New York for VloggerCon 2005. Outside, there was a blizzard, and I was inside, talking with Sean (I lost his URL) about his video project.
[source]
So: Lumiere Manifesto, showing moments, uncensored, without too much editing. (I have never followed any one set of rules consequently in my vlogging, but I guess I have a core sense of aesthetics)
What guided me through my early experiments with videoblogging was the concept of momentshowing from Jay, editing from Charlene, and a twist of subliminal messaging from Fight Club (in my case: Use of fast-flashing text)
Political and moral commitment
Tomorrow is election day in Norway. Every four years there are parliamentary elections, and every four years local elections. I was active in the local elections in 2003 and the parliamentary elections in 2005 for Venstre, but since the 05 election I have mostly shunned politics. Tomorrow is local elections day, and I haven’t voted, and neither I will not be in Norway tomorrow for voting on election day itself. In fact, I have not really been involved in any organization since the autumn of 05, besides The PAN (a group vlog) and helping organize VlogEurope this year. It’s as if my enthusiasm had been dried out. Why? Was it because my living space was so unsecure? Was it because of lack of a love life? Had I turned too cynical in my view of the future of videoblogging?
Last weekend was VlogEurope 2007, and even though we were fewer participants than the previous years, I utterly enjoyed the days. I shot a lot of footage, and this whole week I have been thinking a lot about …
Conversations
How do we take these conversations further?
Momentshowing.
So that the myriad of moments shown establish bigger patterns. Like pixels that, on a larger view, create images. Architectural beauty, or the smile of a girl, or the glow of a tulip.
One of the many discussions I enjoyed a lot was this conversation with Jan McLaughlin:
I love Jan and her work, her commitment to exploring, recontextualizing, breaking down boundaries. Being the faux press, pressing forward, asking questions.
There were so many threads during those conversations, and the countless others, it made my head go spinning, and it feels like this to me. My conceptions keep getting in the way, and I don’t really LISTEN.
To me, the Lumiere Manifesto is about listening. And sharing so others can better listen. Because the videos don’t have audio, it is less controlling. During VlogEurope we talked about “no comment” segments from Euronews. Very interesting look at what the lack of a voice-over can do to reporting.
Personally? Future? This? I was inspired by something Tajee said in Heidelberg about videoblogging and its wider use. She is involved with charity work, for instance, and it is obvious how videoblogging can be a good channel in that sector. The conversation became another thread in my own quest for “the next step”. I work in an academic bookstore in Copenhagen. I read books. I hang out with my new girlfriend. My story has not had a 2-year long break - - but it has been very internalized. I went through a lot in Oslo in 05/06, and I went through a lot after moving to Denmark in 06. I have for quite some time felt that it is time to go external again, and basically I am now looking for “the cause”. Yesterday, I was excited about NABUUR, untill I saw the infighting and bickering over details at their blog. It’s all so frigging predictable. Worrying about status, money, funding, prestige. The whole “not invented here” syndrome. Idiots.
(Of course, I may be the idiot here, and the NABUURs are doing vvery constructive work in their endless discussions about technicalities. Just like it may actually be Very Very important exactly HOW a sentence is shaped in a legal document to be voted over in Congress.)
So, I now wonder where I can be useful. Where my skillset can fill a need. If it is noncommercial work, I will volunteer. I need to get involved with new people, or do something with people I know already. Do something new. A project. During VlogEurope I contemplated a lot about putting work into the VlogEurope site, creating a real, living blog there where we could point to interesting videoblogging projects in Europe. Maybe some of those projects that are not typically mentioned on Rocketboom or Xolo.tv. I miss being in a team. Actually, watching a session Drew Olanoff from Scriggity did at podcamp philly reminded me of that. I think Alive in Baghdad is a superb team effort.
What can I do? So many of us wonder about that. How can we help individuals? Make a difference? Yadiyada.
Localism while being global in spirit. A lesson to learn there, perhaps.
My future in terms of how I spend my spare time? No ideas, except that I am open for ideas, and I want to get involved with some team or organization that has goals and methods I can agree with.
Suggestions?
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duh, i had “comments closed” by mistake. sorry. opened it now
you know this answer. Don’t make it so complicated.
I definitely have periods where my ideas get so big that no video seems right. That’s why the Lumiere manifesto is cool because it purposefully gives you boundaries. Show us what you hate. Show us what you love.
Don’t tell verdi though…he hates rules!
When I first read the Manifesto, I thought, “What’s the point of all this? Why the need to create these rules? Why do they feel that the creator should not have the first/sole ownership of the interpretation of the video?– isn’t that what conversations are all about?– It starts with my opinion and then moves to your opinion then back again…”
Then I thought, “There’s nothing wrong with rules; esp. when I don’t have to follow them.”
Like Jay says, don’t over-complicate your issues. Melt them down and see what forms.
I agree with Schlomo, aren’t we all looking too much for layers to unveil? No Comment is a good starting point. Try to point out, without pointing it out. Ya know? Don’t like it? Toss it out. Something new. Rules? Use ‘m when it helps, it’s not like where double checking them. And knowing your vlog, you’re a man of moods and many thoughts, try to reverse that what you are most accustomed to. Could be something. I’ve been thinking about many different formats, but in the end I figured I was eying others’, not my own.
& with Jay..:)
I like your first video from 2004. Always nice to remember the first ones. First vid is like first sex.
I like all these questions you’re asking. I’m fairly new to the whole videoblogging experience but full of new hope and wonderment. This is a fabulous place.
Wanted to make a comment on a newer post. Comments are also closed.
The only rule I follow doing my own stuff is: The medium must comply with the content. If something should we written, write it; if something should me shown, show it; if something should be told, tell it. So, many of the little videos I make are consequentially lumiere-like and if I think I’ve got something important to say I wirte and publish it and don’t speak into the camera.
I prefer that approach instead of thinking what can videos (& -blogging) be used for in a meaningful way because it’s much more easygoing and the outcomes are just as well.
As I tell my students always. Learn the rules, Use them. Learn the cliches. Use them. Once you know them real well, then break the s*$* out of them. We each try to do what we can. Granted we don’t touch the globe. However we touch individuals on a global level. The number of people who have told me that they have gotten inspired to vlog from one of my videos, talks, etc. is only a handful. However they are placed all over the world. That’s where the localism paradigm shifts from traditional media, and traditional influence. Just though I’d shoot it out there.
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