Andreas Thesis Outline

Thesis Outline First Draft

I. Introduction

Background:
Many people of the western first world state that they do not want to talk about nowadays news/politics because they know too little about it. [is that anecdotal or empirical data informing this statement?] They are overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information that they cope with. Does society really have a lower attention span because they are exposed to much more information? [this is a good question. can we assume this? is there empirical evidence? If so what is it? If not, why do we assume it to be so?] And how does this affect the movie?

Thesis Statement:
The acceleration of society is affecting the movie. Properly applied to the moving image, the concept of brevity can help the viewer regain attention for information that matters.[<Steve: is this a modernist solution? (See in the early 20th century Otto Neurath on the use of visual information or gestalt theory) in which we consider an 'economic use of information' against an 'overabundance' of information'.]

II. Body

First Topic: The history of the brevity discourse
Different kinds of historical accounts shape our understandings and assumptions about technology.

1. Cicero vs Quintilian: boring the audience vs keeping something from the audience
2. Aristoteles: brevity in an appropriate manner
3. Scientific communication

Second Topic: How the human brain processes information
The Science of Gaining Focus

1. The two brain systems (according to Daniel Kahneman)
2. How distraction works (according to Daniel Goleman)
3. Regaining focus (Meditation, Nature and Joy)

Third Topic: Applying the brevity discourse to the moving image
How do changing parameters in the moving image affect communication

1. The fast image in advertising
2. Density of information in news programs
3. The moving image in social media

III. Conclusion

From ancient times to the modern era the rhetoric has been the binding and constant guideline of communication. Nowadays there is less new in the rhetoric, even though the complexity of content has increased. Also, there seems to be a dominance of the visual in the „screen-“ or „display culture“.
There is a need for tools, methods and infrastructures to ensure that we can regain focus and fully take part again in a political discourse