Mar

11

Artfully Artless Japan Vlog

Filed Under General

I like this vlog of Japan by Jonah Asher for a few reasons. One thing I like about it is its non-pretentious feel. The first term that popped into my head was “honest artlessness,” but that might be taken the wrong way. There are a number of different kinds of artlessness. Some are contrived, some are intentional but not so “contrived,” some are completely unintentional and painful to watch, some are unintentional but fresh, etc. This vlog has a positive artlessness about it. Of course the music helps a lot - a very polished and professional sound behind the jagged movement of the camera. Another reason I liked it is because I’m simply interested in seeing everyday life in other places. Though there are a few images in this vlog that seem to carry a fair amount of weight, it’s not an ornate, overly-produced “representation” of everything that Japanese culture is or should be. It’s just everyday life, taken as it came.

Having lived abroad a number of times, one thing I found that I liked about some countries’ TV was their lack of artistic sophistication. Because they didn’t always realize that “every shot should count,” they would often include a lot of peripheral material that had little or nothing to do with their story. In the U.S. professional TV is, by and large, honed and sharpened to get every single ounce out of every single shot. Video shot by a less professional camera operator might often include a messy wide shot, for example, whereas the best way to tell the story would be with a dramatic close up. As a professional, of course what you want is the dramatic close-up in order to tell your story. But as a viewer is who is often more interested in creating my own story, I often appreciate the unintentionally realistic, messy wide shot. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate well done art; I appreciate being in the hands of a master storyteller; but sometimes I don’t want that kind of confinement. Amateur vloggers will provide a lot of that type of breathing room in the days to come. Probably too much. Most probably, the vlogosphere will one day be little more than a sea of messy wide shots, dotted only here and there with tiny islands of concentrated quality. But that’s all right. It will just be like everything else. Why should it be any different?

Again, all this isn’t to say that Jonah didn’t know what he was doing in his vlog. You most definitely get the impression he knew exactly what he was doing.

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