Marywood University Masters of Fine Art
Study Tour – North East Pennsylvania
Interview with Shan Shan Wang
Daryl Stevens
Marywood University – Scranton, PA
New media artist ShanShan Wang’s presentation was about the art of visual storytelling using video, sound and interactivity. Shan Shan is not only a visual artist, but also a live performance artist who invites viewers to interact with sight and sound in her live video events, engaging viewers to affects the narrative experience.
Working with both analog film and digital video, Shan Shan explores visual experiences that can’t be conveyed by conventional dialogue.
ShanShan helped change the way I think about visual storytelling. She talked about how important and effective framing the shot is in telling the narrative. Some of the best video actually moves very little and these shots are more like illustrations.
The flow of the shots and how they relate to each other is powerful in telling the story. She talked about deconstructing the narrative of a story and how you break up a story into simplified segments.
I like Shan Shan’s non-representational abstract storytelling. Her shots make you question “what is this this?” and evoke an unexpected mood from viewing the work. Overall, her work inspires me to experiment with mixing elements and mediums in visual storytelling.
“Seeing more will enable you to see more” – Shan Shan Wang
My Takeaways:
- Deconstruct the narrative.
- Let the picture tell the story frame by frame.
- Tell the story using YOUR voice.
- How does the story/site flow?
- Think about ways that audiences can have more interaction.
- Try to tell the story in a different way than expected.
- Break out from the expected.
- The brain will fill in the gaps and create structure that you deconstruct.
“Video is the totality of art.” – Shan Shan Wang
Find out more about Shan Shan at: shanshanshanshan.com
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