All This Watching Is Killing You
Video is the salt, sugar, and saturated fat of media.
By Mark Whitney
November 2022, I drop dead of a heart attack. I wake up to eight pairs of wide eyes looking down at me, and I’m like, “How many of you here for the first time?”
The first line of my second life gets a chuckle. This bodes well.
My wife says God didn’t talk to me because I “wasn’t dead long enough.” I was, however, dead long enough to hear the nurse mutter, “Smells like he defecated.”
Defecation is a natural part of the post-mortem process. Talking to God? Apparently not. I give you that to give you this. Video is killing you. Video is the salt, sugar, and saturated fat of media.
I produce a fledgling TikTok series for my business partner in which she showcases the many southern California coastal homes she manages and lightly remodels. My job is to shoot while heckling from behind the lens.
We have the choice of telling our stories with video, audio, graphics, photos, or text.
Video makes the most sense because the story plays out against a visual backdrop that changes every week. It’s one thing to see the $3 million apartment where the roof caves in, killing the 94-year-old tenant in the bathtub.
But what does she leave in the fridge?
Pete Holmes and Taylor Tomlinson recently spent 90 minutes discussing the art and business of humorous speaking, in support of the other Taylor’s new Netflix hour, premiering Tuesday. I listened to the first half on my 45 minute fast-walk to the studio. I caught the second half on the second fast-walk home.
Audio is to video as banana (life) is to banana bread (death).
The best way to experience a Pete or a Taylor is the late show on a Saturday night in your local, sold-out 250-seat comedy club. Second best is the healthy audio-only-banana while exercising with earbuds. There is no third best.
When it comes to Jim Breuer there are no second options. He must be seen. You choke down the banana bread and you’re like, “He totally killed!”
Audio is way more flexible than video, even when physical and visual performance art is at play. Audio is my favorite medium because I can sketch the visual while leaving plenty of room for you to fill in the blanks with whatever your mind’s eye conjures up.
Don’t believe me? Check out the side-splitting, audio-only piece I created shortly after the Coronation of King Charles.
It’s forty minutes or 160 TikToks. But it’s bananas!