Looking back at past readings, looking forward to the essay about the movie-making process

I think video and writing can be as closely related as the artist wants them to be. They certainly share some characteristics. One naturally precedes the other, like speech came before writing, and video comes after writing. Like writing, video is a very new technology. Both writing and technology are changing, but video is still undergoing extreme changes and slowly becoming a widely used tool as much as writing. I think the advent of YouTube and other viral video sites are a brilliant way to get people to share thoughts and opinions (regardless of how stupid or pointless) in a sort of face to face contact.

Unless we have a script in front of us on camera, we usually speak in our normal everyday dialect and mannerisms. I think this gives video more credibility than writing because you have those facial expressions and mannerisms to base judgments on. Video sort of transcends the barriers of writing by giving you that face and voice with a text (to Plato's disgust, I'm sure).

When making video gets to be as simple as picking up a pencil and jotting down a few notes and is available to everyone as an affordable way to communicate (some of Ong's requirements in a good technology) it won't be long before we see widespread use of webcameras and videophones in everyday situations; in other words, it won't be limited to YouTube, extreme distance communication, newscasts, and the business world. This will bring an entire new set of problems to the market and will be a constant source of inspiration and new technology, much like writing still is today.