Reaction to this week's readings
I think a common thread between this week's reading is the new ways of formatting narrative, through cinema and broadcasting. Film in general has narrative, as does broadcasting a baseball game, and yet, the elements of this narrative and the process of creating it is much more complex than what the viewer eventually sees. The layering of images to process special effects is a long, painstaking process. Manovich said something about Star Wars being 95% special effects- imagine if the audience could only watch that 5%- would narrative still exist without the other 95%? The events would still take place perhaps, but you'd see Luke sitting on stool with a screen behind him and have to imagine the space craft. (I don't really know this as fact but that's how I imagine it anyways).
I understood Ryan's baseball analogy but found Manovich much more interesting in rethinking how narrative is represented. Perhaps because I am not a big sports person I found myself being dragged along on a ride by Ryan that I did not really want to be on. But narration through broadcasting, the retelling of events and the difference between purely factual retelling and embellishment was pretty interesting. I tend to embellish when I write and then go back and cut down the creative phrasing so its more academic and factual. But embellishment and bias is what makes a story interesting I believe- See Spot run. Okay, nothing special about this event. But see Spot run, a scrawny puppy with a limp leg. Well, now we have pity for Spot and this makes the story unique and worth hearing about I think.
I understood Ryan's baseball analogy but found Manovich much more interesting in rethinking how narrative is represented. Perhaps because I am not a big sports person I found myself being dragged along on a ride by Ryan that I did not really want to be on. But narration through broadcasting, the retelling of events and the difference between purely factual retelling and embellishment was pretty interesting. I tend to embellish when I write and then go back and cut down the creative phrasing so its more academic and factual. But embellishment and bias is what makes a story interesting I believe- See Spot run. Okay, nothing special about this event. But see Spot run, a scrawny puppy with a limp leg. Well, now we have pity for Spot and this makes the story unique and worth hearing about I think.