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| Captive Audience? | | Date Created: Jul 03, 2005, 10:19 PM |
Griping time.
You know, sometimes I wonder. I mean, I really wonder. When you work on a hobby for hours on end and then want to show it off to people -- who are you showing it to, and what are you showing it for? In my experience, the audience never seems to get it. Never seems to notice all the subtle nuances you put into a project. All the little touches that make it uniquely yours.
Case in point, as a videomaking hobbyist (once this was slated to be my career, but I'm now regulated to doing it just for fun), I'm often spending hours trying to make a home video that is entertaining, interesting, and very different. Very me. But no one seems to have the time for it.
I'll never forget the time I spent weeks working on a wedding video - being rushed into doing it by the bride's family - and made something I was pretty proud of. But the family didn't really get it. I don't think they understood what I cut or what I did.
Another time, I had spent weeks working on another video of a cruise vacation. I made sure to pepper that one with interesting moments and fun music. And what kind of response did I get? At one point one of the viewers (my brother in law) started looking at his shoe, which prompted one of my sisters to ask him where he got them, which prompted a whole family discussion about shoes and where to buy them in general--- all while the video I'd spent hours working on was playing unwatched in the background. Ya gotta wonder what it's all for.
Ultimately it's for me. I'm the one who is collecting the images. I'm the one who is putting the projects together. I'm the one who actually does have fun making them. But for what, if even the intended audience won't watch.
I have a few fans. I have one particular sibling who is always supportive, and usually enjoys my output. I get calls every now and then when someone might have a chance to pop in the video and watch at their leisure. And typically, people agree they are well produced, as they should be, considering my background. But why can't I get a proper screening.
I just finished an important-- well, to me -- project that I thought J. would love. Our viewing of it got completely disrupted by a phone call. I can't seem to win with this stuff. Not only that, she's got all sorts of disparaging comments about it. But then again, she doesn't like anything.
I look forward to the day when I can at least have a captive audience. Perhaps one day I'll work on something that is more interesting than what kind of shoes someone was wearing. |
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