This week we had to watch a video. I'd already watched it last week, knowing a hospital visit would leave me scrambling to catch up. I'm afraid I wasn't impressed. Well, I was, but probably not in the way its creators intended...
The video was Michael Wesch's 'A vision of students today'. Here's what it did for me:
Erratic camera movement, zooming in & out with writing on walls & furniture that I couldn't read, clips of software screens flashing up too fast to see what they were, with blurred content if I hit the pause button. Switched to rapid-fire shots of students in a lecture theatre holding up sheets of paper & laptop screens - most gone before I could see the messages. That sequence ended with what looked like it might be a quotation but it was white graphics on a white background?! I saw the date, 1841. Finally a man produced some blurred writing on a backboard. All to the accompaniment of some random plinky-plonky music that only served to distract & annoy while I was trying to work out what was on screen before it disappeared.
For me that was a total waste of time. It made me feel angry, confused, & like I didn't belong in this world of fast-moving information splatter aimed exclusively at those at the peak of their mental & sensory faculties.
By today, 4,827,840 people had viewed it. I expect some of them even enjoyed it.
No comments:
Post a Comment