Activities Archives - Vision Cave

It was a rather common day when I had the idea.

It was late spring, the day’s work was done, and I considered the usual ritual: sitting back and watching a bunch of analysis and discussion-based online video. I was long past graduating film school, part of a video production hobbyist group, and had come to feel, as many creatives do sooner or later, that I’d best draw from my interests to output the most into a dwindling, meandering portfolio.

It dawned on me that I had no particular preference for genre or category when it came to stylistic forms of fiction, as I observed among producers of content I usually consumed. Thus, I ventured a look from the outside and inward, searching through the essence of all that I know and wish to pursue. And finally, like countless others, real or not, I reached the apex of that hard meditative trail, and emerged with a clear, focused view on a simple but meaningful function:

The consistent and enduring power of storytelling, as it exists in our popular media and its effects ourselves and our society.

So without further ado, here is the official reveal of my flagship online video series:

Stories Beyond the Screen

A treatise series that analyzes and explores the stories and motifs within culturally significant media, delving into their inspirations and patterns going back through the centuries, their lasting appeal to consumers, and the effect they can carry into the future.

Motivation-

From looking at the works that inspired our most popular properties, ranging from Star Wars to Harry Potter or even Marvel Comics, I felt that not only could I present my geeky side, but have more to present for it in the course of creating my own content.

J.J. Abrams, however some may feel for his “Magic Box approach”, passed along terrific advise from his father: Know what to make your movies about.

All things considered, this is honestly meant to be me being true to myself while finding more things to share with others as is the function of all media, and all stories when it comes down to it: Passing a message.

Here’s to hoping this will help uncover such messages within our favorite movies, shows, books, and games and share what we make of them through the possibilities of today’s age of media.

Influences-

I should mention I’m starting from much of my own experience and education, from the historical context of classic films or the inspired affects of them on popular subjects. Aside from that, I’ll take this moment to point out a few of the influences I’ve had with this series, at the risk of looking all the worse, but I expect improvement the further it goes.

Joseph Campbell’s Power of Myth Series

Whatever you may make of these, I’m certain you’ll at least enjoy their work. I couldn’t recommend them enough.

Setting Out-

As for this series, the idea is to analyze the shared traits and themes in similar stories from different eras, and come at the end with well-supported conclusions that pertain to patterns that influenced stories, influence individuals and societies to this day, and their potential to continuing such influence going into the future.

Much of that will depend on how the enduring messages within these great stories are left to you. I understand much of this is abstract and subjective, but believe very much that this is important enough to help us understand ourselves as human beings.

At this point, each episode is expected to take two weeks, with time being put into research for the best information and overall production quality I will provide to the best of my ability.

In the meantime, please enjoy the Blog and other things I might bring up from my research on social media.

Please subscribe on the YouTube Channel and email list. Follow the social platforms. Feel free to comment and message me your thoughts and opinions.

I look forward to what should come of the discussions between us from these projects.

INTRODUCTIONS
Hello, Hello to my fellow Travelers.
My name is Spencer, and to anyone reading this now and in the future: thank you.
This is not only the first blog I ever wrote and posted, but this is also the first website I have ever set up, so here’s to hoping our shared paths in this great, mysterious journey lead to something great.
I think of life as a journey the older I’ve become and the more varied I’ve grown to expect of my coming experiences. From the age of 14 when I first heard of Joseph Campbell’s influence on the making of Star Wars, to the use of the Five Stages of Grief in the writing of Groundhog Day at 23, I can’t recall an instance where I’d consciously ignore how some form of storytelling affected society and behavior, and vice versa. Whether by accident, or upon deliberate pursuit, there have been discoveries and advances in my knowledge bringing me to, lacking better terms, a forming of perception and expression that I have since realized is common to every human being.
Or… I’m just being a geek, but what the hey, I love it!
The pursuit toward a better understanding of this predominant power in our storytelling continues to press me forward as a creative, and I can only begin to describe how excited I am to start working with these tools and go farther toward a better reach to others that I can share this adventure with.
It wasn’t easy getting to this point, or at least it first looked like it wasn’t going to. For clarity, I can try putting this like the Hero’s Journey…

THE NOOB’S BLISSFUL AND FRUSTRATING IGNORANCE
To start with, my initial status quo can be summed with the word: “casual-tastic”.
Among friends and relatives, I would be just short of knowledgeable when it came to subjects we’d be enthusiasts for. Movies, television shows, video games, toy trends (of course toy trends, we were 90’s kids); anything awesome meant anything worth talking about, and from my end, that was it. No fan clubs, no magazine subscriptions, and in the days before social media, that also meant “no clue.”

An example I can draw up is Sonic the Hedgehog. I grew up in a Sega Genesis home, with the Super Nintendo making Grandma’s house Mecca for me and my cousins, and we upgraded to the Nintendo 64 and PS2 onward. Beyond trips to Blockbuster Video, I hardly ever heard of the Dreamcast and never came across the “new” Sonic until I played his first port on the GameCube…
…In 2003.
Five years after original release.

Kaiju, 90’s Rock, and Cartoon Hedgehogs… Why Not!

Still…
Asinine it may be…
It blew me away. Me at 13 years old, playing it with some friends, laughing at the barely-dated attitude, and making it our own.
At that age, however late that may have been, I would find intrigue in other sources. Many things I have missed out on were beginning to come to me, as well as deeper things within the already familiar.
Years later, I have been gradually but assuredly garnering more encounters with subjects that have had an instant or lingering popularity, and tremendous personal meaning. Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter got me into reading. Star Wars and Spaghetti Westerns got me into filmmaking. Legend of Zelda and Kingdom Hearts got me into game lore. Now throw in some college, and a decade’s worth of watching online video, and we come to a crossroads.

IT CALLS
It was coming to me for a very long time. Projects me and a few friends tried to do weren’t getting off the ground, but the pondering I’ve been doing since graduation made me realize the pursuit of storytelling was why I wanted to make content like this in the first place. Before long, events transpiring among some people I followed caused the wool to be pulled over my eyes, and I came to an epiphany:
If I were to start out with this media, even with just the resources I have on hand, I’d be among hundreds if not thousands of similar content creators, and those people that I thought had a magic touch are really no different in that regard.
I was onto a subject and style that would make the material my own, and something that to me was worth sharing with audiences even if there was only so much originality. My fascination with what stories can do for people would help me uncover conventional wisdom and guidance, and spread its message across the platforms made possible by online entertainment.
Throw in my education in web design and content marketing, and we have a clear view of my content and its channels. I have entered the cave and now must take up the tools to uncover its bounteous secrets.

GRASP OF POTENTIAL
Sadly, I was never much of a techie…
I seriously can’t recall doing that well in most of my science classes. In fact, I only barely passed shop class. Friends would share some awesome constructs, whether it was science fair fodder or something mind-blowing awesome like a saw made from a handheld flashlight. Despite it all, and so many late nights obsessively building LEGO sets, I tend to only utilize technical know-how through demonstration and hearsay over manual instruction or experimentation.
At least I have a personal PC under my belt (thanks to help from my tech-wiz brother), and thankfully WordPress is built for the layperson, all in all. Easy dashboard, easy terms, easy workflow.
I immediately found the functionality to be remarkable, too. The Plug-ins offered so much from the get-go not just for site construction, but also for working with channels such as social media. Whatever works best for getting in touch!
In the course of first designing this site, I have to admit some issues I’ve had to wreck my head with. A few instances could be some details are not apparent when putting some widgets to use, but that’s often really just my own shortcoming for not being aware of too much (again, not much of a manual reader when I could hit the ground running).
Eventually, it clicked, and the rest was smooth sailing. Thanks to short codes, among other things, I have most of the basics accessible to me for all the pages on this site so far. Chances are it should be a decent beginner method, and I’m not ruling out this site could move on to other platform. It’s all about the search for bigger, better things.

IT’S OWN CHALLENGE AND REWARD
In retrospect, the whole thing wasn’t as hard as so thought at the start. In a way, coming out of the cave made me realize I was in no real danger, but I’m still wiser for the wear, and now have extra useful knowledge to carry on forward with. If I wasn’t being hesitant, as countless hero tales put it, I was being preoccupied regardless, whether by complete unfamiliarity or a lack of confidence, all of which is now behind me.
I bring this up because of how it applies to The Hero’s Journey.

I have been called into action by a catalyst and a motivation to seek a deep desire.
I have been approached by things outside my comfort zone, and have butted heads with it and adapted to it.
I have been led by educational elements to take up a key method of facing the new frontier and obtaining the main goal.
My strategy is to use this site strictly as a hub for content curation and audience engagement between varying platforms. Social media, and media sites such as YouTube are only extensive instruments for the mission I’m setting out on, and I hope it reflects the best of my ability and generates the most outreach possible for the content and its message.

THRESHOLD CROSSED, JOURNEY BEGINS
I hope this example just now serves as a good sampler of what’s to come. Aside from perhaps making my motivation for this site clearer, I believe that if I can contextualize a moment of real-life experience has a mythical journey, then maybe there’s a chance my flagship content will deliver on its intended purpose.
I’m making this commitment here and now that I will work with this website and my content to the best of my ability and give you, dear visitor, the quality and clarity our storytelling deserves. After all, it has a power that shouldn’t be taken lightly.
I bid you welcome to joining me on this journey, and fingers crossed we’ll have an illuminating quest through these cerebral passages in our legends and cultural figures. Follow on our social platforms and channels, subscribe to the email list, and reach out on the forums. See you inside and beyond, fellow travelers!

Vision Cave

Change and Storytelling

Tag Archives: Activities