> Von: Beryl Graham <[log in to unmask]>
>
> I’d be curious to hear from the list how those from a video background
> deal with the ‘loss of narrative control’ in the move from video to
> database, in the last few days of our discussion.
I am not sure that there is a loss of narrative control. each segment of
short film is a narrative in itself. the way that each segment is
read/watched is the same as before only that it is now maybe a short
instance. the lack of a prescriptive order of such short narratives gives an
opportunity to point out several things that are related, all at the same
time. that does not mean that each short narrative can be read
simultaneously, but each narrative can be first, last, or in the middle.
each will be in relation with another, each as important as the other: even
if segments do not seem to have an obvious relationship to each other, they
are still held together through the mere framework within which they are
provided, say the website.
the framework structure is part of the narrative strategy: hence there is no
loss of narrative control but a broadening of narrative, in the sense that
the eventualities of narrative sequence need to be taken into account. the
narrative becomes somehow fluid.
to me, a database is not very different from a library catalogue. i can pick
out books by the title, read them, and somehow they will inform me about
existence in one way or another. this will eventually form a broader picture
of life, in which one book will have close relationships to others. (hence,
in my web-based works, Lee Marvin Toolbox is devided in two sections: the
online structure is a series of descriptive text from which animations can
branch off in seperate windows. but they are also provided as stand-alone,
downloadable movies: they are the tools from the toolbox can be used on the
individual users' computers.)
in 20th century literature there have been many attempts to try and break
apart the sequential structure given by the bound book. BS Johnson, for
example, assembled individually stapled chapters that could be read in
random order, the final book was delivered in a box. of course when
attempting a dramatic curve in the traditional sense of beginning,
denouement, and end, then it becomes slightly tricky. any build-up to some
event could be disturbed in the database-modelled narrative. the drama
therefore cannot rely on denouement anymore. rather each narrative sequence
competes with the other in order to provide an overall sense that would
manifest itself when put together in the reader/user/viewers head.
I guess Roland Barthes could be brought into play here, with his distinction
between readerly and writerly writing. maybe there could be a viewerly and a
videomakerly viewing, in the sense that one is for relaxed couched-potatoing
and the other is for an participatory viewing, where sequence of viewing is
determined by the viewer.
best
jorn
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