The War began tonight. Already, for me anyway, it’s been very compelling to watch and study. But the main reason I think it’s worthy of a blog post is because of the use of various kinds of images. Ken Burns is famous for his use of archival images in his previous documentary The Civil War. So famous that his pan and zoom movement over still images has been dubbed “the Ken Burns effect” in many slideshow programs (even though it’s WAY too common now).
While there were both moving and still images available from this period in history, it’s interesting to pay attention to how he uses them. Watch closely and count how many seconds a still image (on average) is on the screen versus how long a single movie clip is on the screen. Just from this first episode it seemed to me that most movie images were shown for 5-6 seconds or less before a cut is made. But the still images are typically on screen for up to 10-15 seconds, or longer, before a cut to a different image. What’s even more interesting (maybe only to me cause I’m a geek) is how the two different types of media affect us differently and how we perceive them when someone is trying to tell a story like this. I have an opinion about why movie images are generally shorter than still images but I want you to think about this before I share completely.
It still amazes me how powerful a recorded moment can be. Even to those that have no personal investment in the images of these families or events, they can be completely compelling. How much more important are they to someone who only has a photo of their grandfather and the words of others to know anything about them. This really is why I do what I do and why I truly believe it’s such an important job to do well.