The cul­mi­na­tion of years of pho­tograph­ing the inner machi­na­tions of pub­lic and pri­vate events such as the Cannes Film Festival and the Oscars, Idols+Believers by Jocelyn Bain Hogg jux­ta­pos­es vibrant col­or images with sen­si­tive black-and-white shots to present a ful­ly round­ed explo­ration of the nature of fame and fan­dom in the twenty-first cen­tu­ry. The col­or images reflect our appar­ent­ly insa­tiable appetite for all things celebri­ty: from Kylie’s knick­ers and plas­tic Bart Simpson dolls, to tourist rides over Hollywood by heli­copter. Starkly con­trast­ed black-and-white images take the read­er on an inti­mate behind-the-scenes tour of the fame machine—from the paparazzi pack chas­ing the lat­est star­let, to fans and press swarm­ing togeth­er around a delight­ed Arnold Schwarzenegger, to the icy stare of Angelina Jolie as she heads for her lat­est pre­miere. No one is left out when it comes to dis­sect­ing the celebri­ty indus­try: Producers, pop idols, super­mod­els, fash­ion design­ers, pub­li­cists, look-a-likes, paparazzi, and even porn stars all play their part.

This lec­ture was orig­i­nal­ly host­ed at VII Interactive, a new resource for shar­ing insights and infor­ma­tion on the craft of visu­al sto­ry­telling. We are build­ing dif­fer­ent plat­forms with­in the VII ecosys­tem, where the pub­lic can engage direct­ly, online with a live instruc­tor. VII Interactive offers pro­gram­ming that is free and avail­able to every­one, in addi­tion to paid class­es and indi­vid­ual men­tor­ing that can be fash­ioned to your needs.