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Shooting NPR The Moth - Image Adobe Stock
If you enjoy a good story, NPR The Moth is a champion of the spoken word.
True stories told live on The Moth Website.
Shooting NPR The Moth - Image Kent McCracken
The Moth is an acclaimed not-for-profit organization dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling.
As George Dawes Green, poet, best-selling novelist, and founder of The Moth states, “Audiences are drawn to the stories like moths to a flame”. "A celebration of both the raconteur, who breathes fire into true tales of ordinary life, and the storytelling novice, who has lived through something extraordinary and yearns to share it."
At the center of each performance is, of course, the story.
As a videographer, the hardest thing about shooting NPR’s The Moth is maintaining focus while laughing hard enough to split a gut!
Shooting NPR The Moth - Image Kent McCracken
As a longtime fan of NPR I welcomed the opportunity to document The Moth in Miami.
The Miami venue was added to The Moth schedule in January 2015, and, at the time, was the latest venue added to an ongoing list of The Moth StorySLAM venues throughout the country.
Humans are naturally predisposed to storytelling. It’s how we communicated and disseminated information for, well, most of forever, until the written word came about, which, incidentally, scrubbed much of the spoken word as an art form. Until now!
As a freelance camera operator I looked forward to shooting The Moth. Like most folks, I love a good story.
Shooting NPR the Moth - Image Kent McCracken
From my earliest days of parental inspiration, to my career as a river guide (some stories are not meant for print), to fireside chats with friends, to late night sorties, to my current career as a media producer incorporating stories for business clients, I always enjoyed a good story telling.
Most of us have told a few stories. For me, more than my fair share. Many were true, some embellished, and a few outright fabrications.
These days I tell stories through digital media. Honestly, for me, listening to a good story is better than a telling. Like moths to a flame!
The Moth calls this event a StorySLAM. Storytellers are called ‘Tellers’. Interestingly enough, I document [videotape] a story telling show produced for public radio. The irony is not lost here!
In shooting NPR The Moth, the StorySLAM rules of engagement comprise ten topical stories, from ten tellers, limited to five minutes and judged on a ten-point scoring system by an audience panel.
Topic, timing and subject focus are primary qualifiers.
To date, in order of appearance, story topics have been as follow: Firsts. Love Hurts. Scars. Fools. Adventure. Delusions. Balance. Fast lane. Betrayal.
Shooting NPR the Moth - Image Kent McCracken
From my perspective, the video production is simple. A single camera, static frame, fixed lighting, with line feed from the audio mix board.
I record 12 clips in entirety. Start, stop, start, stop, repeat, throughout the 2-hour live production.
My shoot includes the entire show from start to finish, from Producer Introduction, to MC bylines, through each Teller relating their stories.
Each video clip is contained in 5–10-minute sequences. Twelve total. After the first five Tellers there is a break prior to the final five Tellers.
A final congratulatory stage presence with all Tellers wraps the shoot and concludes the show.
My favorite topic, due to intensity of individual testimony and subsequent delivery, has been, so far, without a doubt, ‘Delusions’.
A winner has yet to be decided, as the Grand Slam, the final chapter in this story, takes place at a yet to be disclosed date and venue sometime in December 2015.
The Moth's StorySLAM, second only to twenty years as a river guide, is my favorite venue to partake-in without stepping onto the stage itself.
And you can do just that! Purchase a ticket, attend, place your name in a hat, hope to be drawn, step up to the mic, and tell your story. The Moth is currently represented in 24 cities nationwide.
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