Remember that song - "Video killed the radio star" (video) by the British New Wave group - "The Buggles"? By the way, it 'inspired' Bappi Da to create "Koi yahan naache naache" (video). Both of them happened to be smash hits but the original one did point out a trend - video has
(the lyrics just fit, nothing to do with what Queen meant). Slowly but steadily, video has entered our - minds, hands, pockets, bags, classrooms, offices, trains, buses, living rooms, bedrooms and even bathrooms (definitely for me).
and will continue to change our life drastically. I'd prefer to say - "she's a killer". Killed the silent stars, radio stars, private lives, sense of surprise...
Gunpowder, Gelatine
Dynamite with a laser beam
Guaranteed to blow your mind
Anytime" ... (video)
Dynamite with a laser beam
Guaranteed to blow your mind
Anytime" ... (video)
(the lyrics just fit, nothing to do with what Queen meant). Slowly but steadily, video has entered our - minds, hands, pockets, bags, classrooms, offices, trains, buses, living rooms, bedrooms and even bathrooms (definitely for me).
Consider some of its forms: Video calling (Skype, Google... via At&T...), Online video (YouTube, Facebook, Dailymotion...), Live video/deferred-live video/recorded video, Home-video/Professional-video, digital-video/analog-video, Online-movies/offline-movies /movies-in-theaters, DVDs/CDs/blue-rays, TV/internet-TV, video-on-computer/video-on-tablet/video-on-phone... I am out of breath. Let's see what brought us here:
It's Shocking Good!
For centuries our eyes were used to looking at moving objects in real time, right in front of us. Theater had had been in existence for centuries but that too was in real time. That changed at the turn of 18th century when film first came into play. Culturally, it was no less than a stunner. Most of us wouldn't be able to relate to the horror of the famous unmasking scene (video) of the 1925 silent movie "The Phantom of the Opera". People screamed and fainted in the movie halls. Their worst nightmares were coming true in reel (almost real) life. That was the beginning of how our surprise started going down in real life. Reality just wasn't entertaining enough.
Light (no sound) Action!

Some more junk about the "soundless video era":
- If you watch the early silent movies you can't miss the overly melodramatic body language. It was a natural transition that the actors took from live theater experience. But, images projected on the 'video screen' were larger than life and it didn't work. The actors had to alter their styles drastically to more subtle mannerisms.
- Very few stars made it to the "talking" era. Their voice didn't live up to the expectations. I guess, they couldn't talk the walk :-)
- Silent films were not exactly silent. They were accompanied with recorded musical scores or pianists or organists or a full orchestra or even live actors/narrators. I have had the good fortune of watching a cult classic with an organist and acoustic sound system at Loew's. It was pretty cool.
There is so much more..but lets move on to other interesting things...
The Talkies

In the past few months I have been researching on a variety of topics. "Video" being one of them, I asked people - "How important is YouTube to you? Check it out.