Media Meditation #4 (Warren Miller's Dynasty)

A few months ago, before we left for Thanksgiving break, my girlfriend and I went to the Flynn Theater's showing of Warren Miller's annual ski film, "Dynasty." Warren Miller is one of the more well-known names in ski film production, having made 60 ski movies over the past 60 years of his life. Some consider Warren miller the forefather of ski film production, claiming he paved the way for many of the popular ski film producers of today. Every year his films depict a different theme, which relates to the basic plot of the film. In this years film "Dynasty" the skiers search for the origin of skiing, and travel into rural China to discover how skiing was invented there thousands of years ago.




The Warren Miller Foundation shows a strong shift, both aesthetically and economically. It shows an aesthetic shift, because over the years Warren has mastered the art of successful convergence. What started as a low budget way to compare and progress ski styles became a world renown ski film, multiple informational and promotional websites, and even a partnering magazine called "Snoworld" which releases a special issue to go with the film release. Not to mention his films can be streamed from youtube, as well as other affiliated websites. The lifelong journey of Warren Miller films also shows an economic shift, in that he started this business with nothing more than the desire to progress his skills in skiing, and ended up arguably the most successful man in ski film production with dozens of partnering companies in the ski industry.

http://www.skinet.com/warrenmiller/

http://warrenmiller.net/ec/index.php

A prominent principle of this text is reality construction. The reality this film is trying to construct for its audience is that skiing is a fun and exciting winter hobby that everyone should enjoy, or at least know how to do. They use the imagery in the film to display the "reality" that all the skiers are having a great time, and that the amazing tricks they are doing are easy, and lack any visible consequences. This is designed to persuade people who've never necessarily felt a real talent for skiing to go out a try it, thinking it will be as easy as it looks.