what do I want that eye to see?

As a writer and storyteller it was necessary for me to adapt to the film making discipline because motion pictures reach more people than any cultural medium other than music. Besides, I too have always loved the movies.

For centuries music was humanity’s universal language, but in the past hundred years movies have expanded the vocabulary. Movies possess even more potential to communicate, because they can utilize images as well as music.

Now, thanks to the digital age, a motion picture that I post on my website this morning can span the globe almost instantaneously. For an individual to have so much range to communicate is unprecedented. A film of mine can play in every corner of the world and be watched by individuals whose daily preoccupations are utterly different from my own.

I think of someone who may be illiterate, they may be deaf, mute, or all of the above. For that matter they could have only one eye and still watch my movie. I think of that person when making my films.

If this individual has just wandered into the most far-flung Internet cafe on the planet and discovered my movie playing, what should they come away with? What should I tell them? I will remind them how much we rely on each other for our survival and confirm to them that their passionate participation in community is essential if we are to thrive as a species. It is a profound responsibility to be alive and making movies at this critical juncture in our history.

1 January 2010

On the digital frontier, as the lens of new media insinuates itself more and more into our lives, every person, place and thing becomes a potential media channel. In subsequent posts I will comment on this ubiquitous eye, always watching, but for now let us concentrate on how the digital revolution is about you and me proving our vital, irrefutable interconnection. In submitting my films online, I am coming out on my digital front porch to say hello, take in the view and tell my story. Now, if you are going to listen to my story, it is only right that I offer you the same courtesy. Imagine this web site as a pair of virtual rocking chairs placed here for us to relax, take some time and listen to what is on each others’ minds. We begin with concerns which are evident in my writing and my films, but let this simply be a jumping off point for anything relevant.
These days we hear much discussion about the perils of our modern media. Without a doubt, some people are using the digital frontier to spread lies, but we have access to the same screens. If you are concerned with the topics of environment, sustainability, social justice, art, enlightened politics, or science, you ought to engage the new media, in whatever way you are most attracted, then let us help you make your own channel. Become a satellite in the digital revolution, Transmit and receive your insights with the global village.