"Video and Intermedia" Reading Response

What is "intermedia"? As stated in Wikipedia, intermedia was a concept to describe the often confusing, inter-disciplinary activities that occur between genres that became prevalent in the 1960s. Thus, the areas such as those between drawing and poetry, or between painting and theatre could be described as intermedia. As for Stephen C. Foster, the author of "Video and Intermedia: Remarks on Their Relationships", intermedia is most inter when the medium serves "as a vehicle through which a variety of generic intentions can be processed". That is, the thing that passes ideas through its content.

The author focuses on whether certain genre of art should be defined as intermedia. Although theoretically all media that are being working on can be qualified as intermedia, Foster doubts it. However, he believes that video is highly qualified as intermedia because it compels. I absolutely agree on this point because video is the electronic media for recording and broadcasting moving visual content with audio. As discussed in today's class, painting is "dead" in comparison with video. Audience percept the meaning of video through expression of author but they sort of "guess" the meaning of a painting because it's still. The reason why videos are more broadcasted and watched is because of its easiness of being understand and its straightness of being expressed. It's much faster to watch a video than to read a book with same content. It's also simpler for audience to catch the pace. Thus, in this course, during the production of videos, we shall care more about the feeling of audience.

Moreover, I love the concept of video that its the extension of ourselves. Videos generate empathy that make people have the same emotions. They would applaud if news repots the growth of economy. Likewise, they would pray for the victims after knowing that fire burns out peoples home. That is the magic of video, as intermedia. It shuttles back and forth in people's heart. Consequently, it all depends on how producers are going to utilize the magic of video.