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| Reed Opera House - Modern and historic |
On one side is the modern image in color, on the other is an historic photo in black and white.
Right there, that anchors the piece with a sense of place. It takes place in Salem, in Salem only, and not in the interiors or parkland of some generic town hoping for "sizzle."
If you think I mean to draw a strong contrast with "There's Something about Salem," you are right.
The runner - and other people in the video - also move through space at a human pace. The editing is slower and there is an implied geography and relations between places. They show fewer things and let them develop a little more, and the editorial selections seem judicious. The community is actually more palpable here. The video has more heart.
This, honestly, is the "sizzle" video. Or what it should have been more like.
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| They love the Capitol |
There's still no Spanish, and it's awfully downtown-centric. But it seems more balanced culturally. Sure, it's still a performed, curated vision of Salem, but from here it reads more authentically. It looks like it may be part of a series, so maybe there is more to come.
What do you think of it? Does it have one or more flaws you really notice?
Discover Salem Oregon: Your Capital of Culture from Salem Heritage All-Star Forum on Vimeo.
4 comments:
This is great! Thanks to everyone who had a hand in it. My only complaints would be that you'd never know that the cultural background of 1 of 5 residents here is Latino (nearly all Mexican). And there is no mention of the culture of the people who lived here for thousands of years prior to the 1830s. But that's not really the fault of the video. It's our fault that we have not done more to bring attention to these cultures. How about a Kalapuya village in Bush Park? How about an authentic Mexican mercado in downtown Salem with a performance space?
They forgot to feature the local news story about how she is responsible for getting herself run down because she was RUNNING IN THE STREET THAT BELONGS TO CARS (just before they cut to her running on Union St. Bridge), and she also wasn't wearing bright orange and yellow reflective clothing nor a flashing light cap.
Seems like they might have tried to have the website advertised at the end up and live running prior to going live with the video.
This is the "trailer" for more videos to come -- I believe they're going to make 3 more, but I'm not totally sure on that. The Salem Heritage All-Star Forum is also on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SalemHeritageAS/
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