(I realized that this blog exceded the 500 word limit by over 200 words, so i decided to break it up)
Last night at Campus Crusade (which meets at 7:30 in the library basement, for those of you who might be interested ;) ) we watched one of the nooma videos. Many of you have probably familiar with these videos and with Rob Bell. For those of you who aren't, nooma videos are like mini sermons, only the speaker (Rob Bell) is in a normal everyday setting, usually seated, wearing casual clothes, with all the usual background noise and activity appropriate to the particular setting going on around him. These videos are designed to make the viewer feel like they're sitting across from the speaker, having a casual conversation.
The one we watched last night was called The Bullhorn, and it was about sharing Christ by showing others His love rather than just preaching at them. In it, Bell described city evangelist who stood on the corner with a megaphone (or a bullhorn), shouting for people to be saved so they could go to heaven.
The video didn't start out with any kind of "establishing shot" to allow me to orient myself to the setting. Instead, it began with a combination of close up and medium shots of a man in an office using the copier. It then cut to a busy city street. These two seemingly unrelated scenes were confusing to me at first. I began to ask myself what was going on, who I was supposed to be paying attention to, and why. The fact that the camera gave me little or no initial clues was very effective, because this sparked my curiosity and attention and drew me in. I wanted to know more...
Eventually, I realized that the camera was very slowly zooming in on a man seated on a bench in front of a storefront along the street. He didn't look like anyone special--just some guy in a t-shirt and sweatpants, waiting for the bus--but as the camera continued to zoom in, i realized that this man was important--i was supposed to focus my attention on him. He started talking, and the more he talked, the closer the camera got to his face. He was pulling me into the conversation, and the camera mirrored that.
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I know exactly what you mean! I was really confused at the beginning of it! When they started showing the guy on the bench (Rob Bell) I just thought it was another shot like the guy in the office. Like they were doing a montage effect or something. I kept trying to find the connections between the two. I wasn't expecting it to be Rob Bell.
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