Lumiere Manifesto: like Dogme 95 for videoblogging
Lumiere video arises from the tradition of the French Lumiere brothers. Credited with some of the first footage captured, in 1895, the Lumieres are also recognized for holding the first public film screening, showing ten shorts that lasted only twenty minutes total. At the time, Louis Lumiere stated, “The cinema is an invention without a future,” believing that everyday photography and video was ultimately nonsensical. Yet, we stand firm that Lumiere principles are essential to our existence as artists, media producers, visual creatures, and world citizens.Link (Link and hed snagged from Warren Ellis)From a documentary perspective, and because Auguste and Louis Lumiere are thought to have produced the rudimentary firsts in this now well-known genre, founders of the field are essential to how we view our work today on a continuum. Lumieres emerge from the belief in filmmakers' distinct points of view; appropriately, lumiere literally means “light” in English. Online video has now for years allowed the advancement of personal narratives and showcased the world through the eyes of other video producers. At best, we display an edited view of our worlds. At worst, we destroy important viewpoints through unnecessary editing.
UPDATE: oooh, there's a competing videoblogging manifesto from snottydouche.info:
The Luxidogmeimerde ManifestoLinkidogmeimerde (actually written by Lee Stranahan)(For fuller context, you should read the wussified Lumiere Manifesto first. But then come back and read this one, because seriously our manifesto is way way better.) (...)
We followed the Dogme95 conventions until we realized that Dogme film #188 was Big Booty Hoes, which kind of fucked up that for us. We have attempted to find videos usingthe Lumiere Manifesto, which at first thought was good but now we hate. We looked for films that were longer than 60 seconds, no camera movement, no audio, and no editing. Sadly, most of the videos we found that matched those criteria were dudes beating off. After watching several hundred of those videos, we decided that we needed to draft our own set of rules.
* No script or scenes or actors or dialog or locations
* No artifical lights or real lights or black lights
* To maintain a total sense of reality, NO credits are allowed either before or after the film.
* Or during the film, either. * In order to maintain the artistic integrity in shots involving visual effects for explosions, if you use an Explosion element, it must be ONLY from the ArtBeats Reel Explosions Volume One library in the Zero-G folder and can only be composited into the scene using either Shake or Fusion (NOT After Effects) and you may only use Add or Screen modes and more no than three rotoscoped mattes, including the scene's general garbage matte, per shot. Also, no more than seven (7) nodes per shot, including the background plate AND any color correction, either done pre-comp or post.
* No costumes
* No soundtrack, audio, music, sound effects except for a high pitched whine
* Trailer may not use Don Lafontaine for voiceover
* Camera may not be put on a tripod or other artifical camera putting on thing.
* Lens Cap On
* No Battery Or Other Power To Camera
* Camera In Bag
* First Camera Bag Put In Another Bag Made Of Dark Heavy Canvas
* Doubled Bagged Non Powered Camera Buried At Depth Of Six Feet
* No fattiesThe following are not rules for filmmaking or film makers but represent a complete philosophy of life.
Only films that follow all of these rules will get props from us on MySpace.
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So, this is an overhyped concatenation of already-existing tropes? 'Cause that's basically what Dogme 95 was to cinema verite. (Not to mention, merely pressing 'record' and 'stop' on a camera are edits, the most basic ones of all.)
I don't mean to sound snarky, setting artificial limits on the techniques available to you can be both a very successful way to create otherwise unlikely art. (Heck, "Lumiere et compagnie" shows this.) It can also be a very helpful exercise to the artist. But, as when Dogme 95 originally hit, I have some doubt whether this revolution is in fact in aethetics, as it seems to claim, or in self-promotion.
Aren't blogs already essentially like this for the most part?
Thankfully they have managed to put forth their vision without the rather over-the-top and unnecessary judgements of the Dogme 95 manifesto. Instead, it simply presents an idea of what video blogging could be.
These artificial limits on the techniques available isn't just a way to create unlikely art or an exercise for the artist, it's also (1) a way to filter and collect videos with a very different goal from what one normally sees around the Internet, (2) a way to focus videobloggers' energies into a sort of "submedium" so that they can build upon each others efforts to develop that "submedium" into something that wouldn't otherwise exist, and (3) an exercise for the audience.
Rather than being a revolution in self-promotion, I see this as an inevitable and slightly overdue development in the new medium of short, low-rez, Internet video. I expect we'll see more of these over time, along with things like one-minute-of-your-life-each-day contests. Each of these, which will likely range from the banal to the über-pretentious, will push the evolution of the medium a little. This to me seems less a revolution and more a logical first step.
I've never cared much for the video-blogging side of YouTube, but I've always sensed that it represented something that will evolve into something that I will one day care about.
This manifesto isn't nearly strong enough...for the real deal, check out the true artists at http://www.SnottyDouche.info
Some people have way too much time on their hands - and a seriously overblown notion of the importance of "the artiste".
I prefer R. U. Sirius and his notion that one should do ads for Coke - real ads, just not sanctioned by Coke.
If you're not videotaping 9/11, an Iraqi insurgent attack, or Paris Hilton naked in your bed, why should I give a damn about your videoblog?
If it isn't communicating INFORMATION - or better yet, INTELLIGENCE - why is a videoblog any different from somebody's meandering blog about what they did on any given day?
Let's start with something simpler: try to eliminate the camera movement and motion blur before you try to be an "artiste".
Does anyone have proof that the film 'Big Booty Hoes' mentioned in this post actually exists? I checked wikipedia, IMDB and Google and couldn't find much about it, its director 'Mike Landao' or its producer 'Felipo Manongrad'. Is this a hack or just Dogma making a litle joke?
I will be giving a talk at the International Film Festival Rotterdam on January 30th (next week!) on the topic of what can be learned by doing Lumiere videos. The title of my talk is, "Illuminating Journeys: The Voyage Out and the Voyage In." Check out the web site for more information!
http://professionals.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/eng/conference/programme/patricia_lange.aspx