Video
FROM BLACK SCREEN...
ABSTRACT VISUAL PATTERNS
SLOWLY TURN INTO BARELY
RECOGNIZABLE SHAPES:
CAVE PAINTING...
PICTOGRAPHS...
HIEROGLYPHICS...
MUSLIM CLERIC SHOUTING FROM
MINORET...
EARLY WRITTEN
MESSAGES: SCROLLS,
TABLETS...
SEMAPHOR FROM SHIP
RIGGING...PONY EXPRESS...
EARLY MAIL TRAIN
EARLY TELEGRAPH:
TELEGRAPH LINES BECOME
MAP LINES...
...CONNECTING BOSTON
AND NEW YORK, THEN MORE
AND MORE CITIES.
LINES MERGE INTO A
SINGLE PULSATING BROAD
LINE,REPRESENTING TOTAL
WORLDWIDE MESSAGE
TRAFFIC...
L
INE FLIPS 180 DEGREES,
TURNING INTO GRAPHIC
COMPOSITION FEATURING
ANIMATED NOC LOGO
VIEWS OF THE NOC IN
ACTION... |
Audio
SFX:MYSTERIOUS, ABSTRACT SOUNDS,
SUGGESTING PRE-HISTORY...
THEY MERGE INTO DRUMS, CHANTS...
MIX: PRIMITIVE HUMAN VOICES...
GRADUALLY BECOMING
MORE AND MORE SOPHISTICATED...
f
SOUND-SCORE MATRIX BUILDS INTO A WEB OF
SFX REPRESENTING EARLY COMMUNICATION FORMS:
TELEGRAPHIC...
THEN EARLY TELEPHONIC VOICE TRANSMISSION...
AND FINALLY THE FULL ARRAY OF ELECTRONIC "VOICES" THAT MAKE UP CONTEMPORARY TELECOMMUNICATIONS.
NARRATOR
(OVERLAPPING SFX SOUND-SCORE):
In our brief history on earth, the need
To communicate has transformed us.
The need to talk and listen has made us
Transmute our messages into
The basic matter of the universe--
Electrons...pure energy--
And cast them with the speed of light
Through instantaneous tunnels of cable,
Glass fiber, and pure space.
In less than a century, the
Long distance network has grown from a
Single link between boston and new york
To a complex worldwide grid,
The most awe-inspiring, man-made system
Of any kind every conceived...
Almost miraculous in its scope.
Here, in the network operations center,
A round-the-clock command post
Monitors the twelve regions of the
Public switched network....
(End of Excerpt) |
