:: Seeing is believing ::

With my head stuffed full of Noam Chomsky and the book version of "Manufacturing Consent", I headed off to my COMZ 360 class tonight, expecting to discuss the power issues between traditional media and the “ordinary people”, as Chomsky calls all of us.

Instead, I had my mind opened to the potentially positive power of imagery.

During tonight’s class, we saw an excellent film called “Seeing is Believing” by Canadian documentary filmmaker and Concordia University alumni, Peter Wintonick. Just off the 2002 film festival circuit, Wintonick himself came into our class to provide an introduction and a viewing of the film, something that is apparently getting to be a bit of a privilege, as Wintonick gets more well-known around the world.

This movie deals with the equalizing effect that handheld camcorders have on individual ordinary people caught in extraordinary situations. Wintonick deals with the issue that the written word is losing its power and the image is taking over.

This is particularly noticeable in the film when various interviewed people speak of the loss of powers of influence traditionally found within first person accounts of events. Instead, this verbal or written testimonial to the goings-on in places as diverse as Indonesia, Chechnya, Czech Republic and Wales is increasingly being given over to the audio and video recorded image. Though the handheld video camera, individuals are able to document and distribute imagery that pierces the darkness of propaganda to highlight their own realities.

The film clearly illustrates that the power of imagery can be used by groups like Witness to affect change in human rights scenarios globally.

After the film was aired in-class, we had a lecture and discussion with Peter Wintonick himself. Very illuminating, especially his concepts of cinema verite, the power of documentary film-making and how he came to this point in his life in which he could make this film.

All in all, it gave weight to Stuart Hall’s theories, per my post yesterday. I will certainly have to keep some of Wintonick's more salient points in mind as I continue this exploration of the I-Space, to see if they can be applied to the online context.

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In order to appreciate the scope of Peter Wintonick’s work, I urge you to…
…Read an interview with Wintonick about the power of documentaries
…Find out more about the film, “Seeing is Believing”
…Learn about the links between Wintonick and Chomsky