20th
People, their Things, their Stories
Here’s the Thing is a new weekly Web TV biography series. Each roughly four-minute episode consists of a voice-over narration by the subject as he or she looks at objects captured in twenty-five photographs taken at his or her home.
The series is remarkable (and relevant to this blog) in part because it vividly demonstrates the various ways in which people understand themselves in relation to the things that surround them. Each episode captures the movement of the subject from the generic identity announced in superimposed text at the beginning: ”Madra Furman, student,” or “Carlos Zapata, office manager,” to the more complex appellation that emerges from the narration: “Madra Furman, student, avid reader, candy lover, journaler,” or “Carlos Zapata, office manager, family man, mac daddy, daddy mac.”
In addition, like Martin Hampton’s short film Possessed, the series presents a compelling play of stillness and movement, as the voice-over animates the sequence of photographic images.
I particularly like Episode 3, which features cellist Dale Henderson, “musician, coin collector, nostalgist, gourmand,” and—along with series director Miska Draskoczy—former classmate of mine at Concord Academy.
The episodes are online at http://www.youtube.com/HeresTheThingTV
