No Vacation From the Camera
Published September 02, 2022 · 8:38 · 115,528 views
About This Video
The title promises a vacation video; the opening admits to a bait and switch. Van takes his camera to Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts: a New England road trip that becomes a meditation on missing people and the hero's-quest structure that governs how we narrate absence. Patti Smith surfaces as a reference point, and the Fuji Instax instant camera operates as the episode's visual motif: a technology that produces singular, unreproducible images in an age of infinite digital copies.
The concept of "the boon" (borrowed from Joseph Campbell's hero's quest) provides the structural key. The hero ventures out and returns with a gift for the community. Van's internal conflict is whether the camera itself prevents the genuine experience that would constitute the boon, or whether the footage is the boon. He doesn't resolve it, and a reference to climbing Kilimanjaro's Uhuru Peak anchors the question in physical reality: some experiences are too large for the camera to hold, and the honest filmmaker admits it.
Transcript
so [Applause] [Music] this is the bait the spirited man is baiting you he's pulling you in with this installation of a self-timer for his fujiroid
he's building this rig to suck you in but this rig is not what the episode is about
this episode is about missing people this is just the
bait the switch is coming here comes the switch don't forget that okay this is a vacation but he can't come back empty-handed
can't come back with no footage this is not a vacation from the camera from the typewriter and the editing
suite yes but not a vacation from the camera the camera
is on call [Music] patty smith takes polaroids patty smith misses people [Music] for a story we've got to have surprises gotta have conflicts
[Music] gotta resolve the conflicts with unexpected solutions the heroes should go through something and come out better unless it's a tragedy
the tragic hero doesn't change and everyone dies everyone dies in the end of hamlet right
ophelia dies and mel gibson dies but in the hero story the hero goes through an adventure during which he rises to the occasion
returns home with the ultimate boon and a boon is a thing that is helpful like indoor plumbing or socks
maybe the story is the bone maybe the story is the thing that is helpful
[Music] but we've got to shoot the conflicts can't just shoot the pretty scenery and call it a story and when we put it all together with the typewriter and the editing software we the storyteller
often if we've done it right we get a new piece of wisdom maybe that's what we
the storytellers are after i went to the east coast and you know what i never realized
but we've got to shoot the conflicts and resolutions the conflicts should impede his pursuit
the resolutions should surprise him should surprise us do you want to see that bridge go up see it you see it over there see the big
things in the air those two big blocks boring predictable resolution
boring story [Music] wanna balance with me yes well was it going to rain what should we do yes [Music]
i don't think they have snake holes here but we'll just buy new shirts and change them in the car
would we be scolded for trespassing or shot no we're in rhode island
right now rhode island and now we are in connecticut
massachusetts would we make the ferry on time yes [Music] would we get arrested for no car seats and no seat belts
nope [Music] would we be harassed for not wearing helmets no what happened [Music] spare yep would there be enough graveyards
uh-huh [Music] would the kids get separated in the bramble yes but we'd find them beautiful conflicts but boring resolutions no surprises
so he thought the big conflict came from what this spirited man did not
shoot and the big conflict was internal he did not shoot a rendezvous with
keller because he didn't make it happen he did see graham but he did not shoot their reunion
he did not shoot graham and his wife and their baby last time he saw graham there was no wife was no baby
last time he shot graham was africa 14 years ago [Music] last time he shot clinton was africa 14 years ago clinton beautiful clinton
14 years ago they all summited kilimanjaro together that's the team that's the african sunrise casey
here's the sign uhuru peak tanzania 5 895 meters uhuru means freedom and this spirited man's conflict
the conflict that he did not shoot was this he had lost touch with people
with whom he had no business losing touch [Music] and there was no surprise solution no wisdom no boon
just the ghosts of christmases yet to come this week on the patreon a live stream answering your questions the link is right there
Products & Tools Mentioned
- Fujiroid (Fuji Instax) uses — instant camera used for capturing moments
People Referenced
Patti Smith, Graham, Clinton, Keller, Casey Neistat