headBand CInema

About the author

Here’s a picture that relates to cinema. I was returning to Palermo with two Italian neurologists (Drs. Rossella Spataro and Vincenzo La Bella). I signs indicating Corleone and wanted to get a picture near one.

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headBand CInema by Brendan zaChary allIson

“But Grampa Rod I saw those old pictures from like 100 years ago with people using BCIs in movie theaters! Everyone was wearing suits and they had these VR glasses with red and blue monitors and-“

“Those were called 3D glasses. The red and blue things were cellophane. Everyone saw the same show.”

“So old people like you saw the same movie as… as kids? Even Powerstreamers? It was all Dullspeed?”

“Yes, Agnes. Back then, BCIs weren’t invented and I wasn’t old. Movies and TV were slow on purpose. Directors, writers, editors, so many others – timing was crucial. Nobody thought about having their work sped up every time your headband said you got bored. Accelerating the slow parts changes everything. Like that Twilight Zone episode you just burned through. Tell me about it.”

“This old woman was all by herself getting attacked by tiny aliens and she killed them. I saw it in six minutes. I tried to watch the whole episode at Dullspeed but it had no action. Less suspense.”

“No, Agnes. More. Headband cinema sped it up so much you can’t appreciate those long, slow shots with the lead actress. That’s what made it suspenseful. It was originally 25 minutes.”

Agnes pondered this while their ship landed and hundreds of bizarre bipedal insects started clanking on it loudly. “Well I hope I never go Dullspeed, Grampa Rod. Surely those tiny aliens aren’t here for us?”

Author Commentary

This is a shout out to “The invaders,” an excellent Twilight Zone with Agnes Moorehead. I put her name in the story and followed it with a plug for Rod Serling. I also referenced the concept of Powerstreaming, which is one of my older short-shorts.

Realism

This is an interesting idea I’d like to work on more. Editing narratives (including old sci-fi episodes) to make them more appealing to specific audiences is viable. It would be easy to do so offline for groups, such as revising old Twilight Zones for younger viewers.

Hope

I’d have mixed feelings about this invention. Directors, editors, producers, and many other people put a lot of time into the pacing and other details of their work. Changing them without permission from them is problematic in many ways. If works aren’t copyrighted, then people might change work without permission from anyway, which is even worse.

On the other hand, editing like this (with or without BCIs) could encourage people to enjoy the Twilight Zone who otherwise wouldn’t. Some of them might then see the original, unedited versions.

Consider colorization. It’s been around for quite a while. It’s controversial, and should be, largely for the same reasons.

Edit History

I wrote this in 2022 and posted it in March 2024.

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