TedXVienna talk on the problems of storytelling in the digital age

Johannes sez, "monochrom's Johannes Grenzfurthner gave a short presentation about traditional narrative cinema, the problems of storytelling in the digital age -- and monochrom's feature film project 'Sierra Zulu.'"

Sierra Zulu at TEDxVienna: Video online (Thanks, Johannes!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: austria • tedx • video • vienna • web theory • youtube

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mguffin

Ok. This is harsh, but this might be the least engaging TED talk ever - and seems to have NO novel or interesting content. Maybe TEDx’s really are diluting the core TED brand. What am I missing? This is either the worst pitch I think I’ve ever seen or … and this may be it – a pretty unengaging piece of performance art. Oh wait a minute – that’s it – Austrian fans channeling The Nihilists from Lebowski
digi_owl

Maybe hollywood should embrace the VR world of cyberpunk?
http://twitter.com/sirmarlonblack Marlon Black

I’m glad the speaker thinks cinema is alive and kicking. Whew. We dodged that one. Also, we should thank the speaker for successfully pigeonholing cinema (aka drama – that thing Shakespeare refined), the medium countless people have used to tell marvelous stories that detail the human condition, as something about explosions and kissing. Truly, I never liked Michael Bay’s work, but the speaker’s description makes me appreciate his work.

In all seriousness, this has to be one of most non-sensical and ideological TED Talk I’ve ever heard. I second The Gunner, nothing new here. The speaker is trying to say that the medium of narration and story will change because of the internet? That we must change the medium of film to adapt it?
The medium of story has been the same since the stone age. People do things, and they share their actions people. The concept of story hasn’t changed since then, it didn’t change with Shakespeare, Brecht, Chekov, Kubrick or anyone else. And people still act the same way, that’s why Greek tragedies are still produced all over the world.

IF anything, the internet has given us a new set of actions that individuals perform daily, coupled with – loosely paraphrasing McLuhan here – a medium that manipulates and demands a paradigm for narrative in its expression of story (ergo affects narrative). Frankly, this is the kind of revelation everyone had in the mid-2000s when youtube came around.

One question that completely debunks this man’s theory: What happens to period pieces?

Yet, his ejaculative discussion of the need to change the paradigm of film, while promoting a film, is nothing more than amusing. An entertaining conflict of interest, filled with one-way arguments and no solutions. His film as proof.
peterblue11

Yea not to be harsh but this talk wasnt really about storytelling in the digital age at all. If anything it was concerning the structure of “modern” ie post golden age cinema production-like model of hollywood filmmaking. However instead of presenting a novell alternative he mostly mentioned the numerous lucarative deals they managed to score wih big names from the exact “outdated” production process he said was obsolete.

I liked the self reflective note though that cinema as a mass medium would have to change not only in cotent and form but also in production process.
http://twitter.com/PaulForte Paul Forte

I’m assuming he never saw The Social Network. Ya know: an exciting movie about people not moving much with an actual Director at the helm! What a bizarre talk! The central irony being that it often takes a visionary, auteur-like Director to craft drama where there is little visible action!!
- http://twitter.com/johannes_mono J. Grenzfurthner
  
  You are missing the point. The Social Network is a classic story about betrayal and power.
HeatVision

The whole audience there and anyone watching this video just got pranked. The speaker goes on a bullshit hypothesis about how modern storytelling is so difficult due to the lack of action in our daily lives, but the only reason he is there is to stir up investors and interest in his next film. Look at how he pumps up the people working on it. The people involved in the film are irrelevant if he was actually pitching an IDEA (which is what TED is supposed to be about) on how storytelling has changed and how as a filmmaker he has addressed that, but he doesn’t. He just sets it up with the stock market chart and goes into his pitch session.
millie fink

Yeaaaah . . . I’m still waiting for someone to explain the punchline here . . .
http://twitter.com/johannes_mono J. Grenzfurthner

I definitely know more about Marlon’s perspective on cinema now, but I wasn’t even talking about the stuff he is critizing me for. I was invited to talk about our movie project and set it in perspective. Done.
And please stop the sexist bullshit about hotties.
- http://twitter.com/sirmarlonblack Marlon Black
  
  Thanks J.
  
  Glad you appreciate my thoughts.
  
  Good luck with your film and the framing of your storytelling paradigm…