Darwin College
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POWER

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Power and Democracy18th
Jan 
·Tony Benn 
 
Power in Cells25th
Jan 
·John Walker 
 
Powers of Ten1st
Feb 
·Neil deGrasse Tyson 
 
Narrative Power8th
Feb 
·Maureen Thomas « 
 
Power of Life and Death15th
Feb 
·Elisabeth Bronfen 
 
The Power of Music22nd
Feb 
·Derek Scott 
 
The Power of Mathematics1st
Mar 
·John Conway 
 
Sustainable Power8th
Mar 
·Mary Archer 


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Narrative Power

  Abstract of lecture     |     Biography  
Maureen Thomas

Maureen Thomas
   Cambridge University Moving Image Studio

THE POWER OF NARRATIVE focuses on the screen - from the cinematic to the interactive.

Today, many undergraduates have a more comfortable relationship with the screen than with the page; and the miniaturisation and accessibility of audiovisual equipment enables them to use moving images as Darwin - or Erasmus, Marlowe, Wordsworth, Tennyson, Mary Somerville, Emily Davies or Rosamond Lehmann - used paper, pencil and pen. Nonetheless, understanding of the language of moving images remains somewhat passive. This lecture, exemplified through clips and demonstrations, examines the evolution and working of screen narrative. Though often featuring actors playing roles, film drama is recorded and delivered through lenses, the camera representing a single viewpoint, mediating the story via an inbuilt observer, narrator or character. Film-makers thus wield the narrative powers both of novelists and dramatists to spellbind their audiences; but in addition, like the 19th-century illusionists who first recognised the potential of film as entertainment, they can deploy moving image magic to make us actually see - and believe - the fantastic and the improbable. The advent of interactive digital technology, virtual cameras and performers increases the strength of an already potent mix: in the 21st century, the power of screen narrative attains new heights.


Site last modified Thu Aug 18 13:52:59 BST 2005