Once in Seven Years | Barış Özcan | TEDxBahcesehirUniversity

In this talk, the relationship of a documentary that is shot once in seven years, with the lives of human beings is told.

Barış Özcan has succeeded to get in touch with the audience with the help of the stories he tell in YouTube. He is one of the best-loved story tellers of Turkey.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.
Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

The world is changed.

I feel it in the water.

I feel it in the earth.

I smell it in the air.

Much that once was is lost;

for none now live who remember it.
(The Lord of the Rings)

Hello,

I'm a person who tries to tell stories.

So I wanted to start with the

prologue of one of my favorite stories.

It's a story that tells the world is

changing, and in a way, it's a story that

changes the world.

Curiously enough, not only the world which

can be evaluated as the place we live

and as a great living being; but also

we, as each of us being a small world

who lives in it

changes constantly.

As we change,

we change the world too.

So I try to shoot documentary films

in order to see those

changes better.

To document the world and people

living on it in a better way.

As Tarkovsky says;

"Sculpting in time".

But why?

Why do we try to stop the time which is

slipping by between our hands?

Is it because we fear of what it

transforms us into,

or to seize the moment?

"Gather ye rosebuds

While ye may".

Why did the poet write these lines?

Because, believe it

or not,

everyone in this saloon

will stop breathing one day.

Because, with every moment,

out stories are coming to an end.

But we?

We want eternity.

Or at least, we want to

catch the moments we live in,

and eternalize them.

That's why I try to

shoot documentaries.

About five years ago from today,

when the term Selfie

was not invented,

one day I picked up my

cell phone and took my own

photo, to seize the moment.

Next day, I took a photo one more

time with the same angle.

Then one more time,

one more time,

and I changed it into a project.

As an indicator of my effort

to seize the moment.

And, in the past few days, months;

I started shooting video blogs,

or in popular terms, vlogs,

at YouTube.

What I do is to catch small sections

from my life, to keep them

and to share with others.

And I name all of my efforts as

personal documentarism.

Personal documentarism.

But there are other people who

does this job, especially the documentary

part, much better than me.

For example, look at this documentary.

Those children, you see, come together

for the first time in their lives.

They're all
7 years old, ordinary children.

Of course they all have

different life stories, they come

from different social environments.

So why do you think they were

brought together in that zoo,

in a cold day of 1963?

To do what?

To shoot a documentary.

To understand what the world

will change into, in the future.

Because today, in 2016,

maybe one of these children works

as a salesclerk in a store.

And the child near him or her

may be the manager of

that chain store, who knows?

But when we're watching them now,

we see them as clean, white

empty pages.

Everyone will start to fill their

notebooks with their own

touches, as time passes by.

Like Mr. Keating did

in Dead Poets Society.

And like he had it done.

I want you to examine those

faces belonging to the past.

They don't seem
different from you, do they?

They feel invincible,

like you feel now.

For example, look
at these two impishes.

Their names are Bruce and Neil.

They believe that their destinies

are to achieve great things,

like most of you believe.

Especially look at Neil, on the right,

talking continuously.

His eyes; filled with

light, life, hope,

such as your eyes.

But could those

children do what their

powers afford?

Or did they wait until the ship

has sailed?

I wonder what did they change into

as the world changes.

I wish we could see it.

The ones who shot this documentary

could have thought the

same because after 7 years,

in the 1970s, they shot the second part

of the documentary by visiting these 14

children who came to the age of 14.

In this part we see Neil as he goes

to school with his bicycle.

Now he is a student.

It's clear in all aspects.

Yes he is a student, but what

happened to the light in his eyes?

It started to dim out.

So when 7 more years will pass,

will this light totally dim out?

The curious documentarists

like you and me wondered about

the answer of this question and

they visited those 21 years old

youngsters again.

Now it's 1977.

You can understand it from

Neil's clothes.

He got dressed up to date.

He applied to Oxford University,

but he wasn't accepted.

He entered into a different university,

but probably he couldn't hold on there.

That's why he's not going to school now.

During the interview, he is asked;

"Would you like to be 7 years old again?"

I want you to think about it.

Would you like to be 7 years old again?

Would you?

If you could, what would you change?

So why don't you change it now?

It is seizing the moment, isn't it?

Starting from now on.

Neil says no to this question.

"I wouldn't like to be 7, because

I know that I will be 21 again".

But still, he wants to be an important

person in life and wants to influence

other people's lives.

In short, to change himself and the world.

So this is Neil and the 4th part

of the documentary which sheds light

to his 13 friends' lives was published

in 1984.

And Neil is unemployed

and homeless now.

So he starts to look for a place to live

by going around in England

by hitch-hiking.

After spending

such a life for 7 years,

he finally

finds a place to live in a small island

near Scotland.

He even starts to act small

parts in a local theatre there.

In the life play that he acts on

the stage of the world,

this time we see him

as a real actor.

I wonder if he's pleased with himself now.

How does he look like?

Does he still feel invincible?

Does he think that
he can change the world?

They ask him that;

"Do you think you have failed?"

I want you to ask this to yourselves.

Do you think you have failed?

What is the thing we call success?

A target we want to reach,

a treasure to seek and find.

What is success?

So do you wonder Neil's answer?

"I cannot decide it" he says;

"my life hasn't come to an end yet".

This is an answer of a person who still

believes that he can change.

Indeed he's 42 years old,

we see him near his childhood

friend, Bruce.

You remember Bruce, don't you?

The boy who was 7,

who sits in silence

while Neil was

speaking continuously.

This is him.

This documentary actually

represents Bruce's life to us

with 7 years of breaks too,

but his life is more familiar,

more ordinary.

An education on mathematics,

then graduation, then teaching,

marriage, two children, etc.

So what is Neil doing near his childhood

friend after so many years?

I want you to revive your memories

for the answer.

To think about his 21 years old status.

You know, he left university

but he still

wanted to be an important person,

to change the world.

When they ask him, "How are you

going to do that?",

he said; "I don't know, maybe

I'll go into politics".

He couldn't do this for 21 years

but in the age of 42, we see him

in London, working as a council

member in a local parliament.

Moreover, 7 years pass

and he is promoted to regional assembly.

7 more years pass and in 2012,

when the 8th part of the documentary

is published, there is a liberal democrat

politician who joined in general

elections in England.

Maybe you have been waiting

for me to tell you

a story of success.

To tell that he won the elections,

he achieved his dreams,

a happy ending.

But no.

He couldn't succeed, couldn't win,

because real life stories are

filled with obscurities.

But isn't it the good side?

To be unknown.

After all, this documentary

in Neil's life and his journey in life

hasn't finished yet.

And I wait excitedly and curiously

for its new episode which will be

published in 2019.

So, why 7 years?

To tell the truth, I couldn't find the

answer of this inside the documentary.

But biologically, it is said that we

become a new person every 7 years.

How?

I'm going to give details about it,

so I put brankets here, then

I'll turn back to the documentary.

There are about 37 trillion cells

in our bodies and as I'm

telling this, about 5 million cells

of me has died.

The same thing happened

to you while you are watching

or listening to me.

But don't worry,

because within this month, there will be

about 450 billion new cells.

More than the numbers of

the stars in milkyway.

And in 7 years, all of the cells

within our bodies will be renewed.

Almost all.

So biologically, we will be

whole new people.

I especially say

almost all because

there is an important exception here,

the brain cells.

They are not renewed.

Yes, that's right.

They do not change.

What about the ideas,

thoughts within them?

Maybe we are not aware

of the change of the cells

in our bodies.

It happens out of our control,

but to change the ideas,

thoughts which are in the

only unchangeable

cell group, brain cells,

it's in your hands.

So I close the brackers,

now I turn back to the documentary.

Roger Eburt, who is a famous film critic,

considers this documentary series called

"Up" as one of the best 10 movies

of all times, in other words,

as one of the best 10 stories.

And he says that it penetrates into

life's mysterious center,

because it is more real and

actual than classical movies

and fictional stories.

It is the best to tell

human beings' transformation

and the unknown in that transformation.

But there is a continuous transformation

within the characters in the stories that

people tell or make up.

So, unless there is change

there would be no stories.

And this transformations generally

resembles each other.

Joseph Campbell, who makes research

about legends and myths, wrote his

work called "The Hero
with a Thousand Faces"

by setting out from these similarities.

The legends created
by archaic civilizations and

the stories told by asunder civilizations

always resemble each other.

The transformations within these,

works like a clock.

In all of these,
the hero goes on an inner or

external journey and he

goes on an adventure.

Then, by growing up,

by changing, transforming,

he goes back to home.

At first he gets a mysterious call,

the call to adventure.

Then he realizes that
he needs help, so support

appears suddenly.

Probably from an old man with white beard,

from a wise person.

Then he leaves his usual comfort zone,

his home and

he sets off.

So our adventure starts, an adventure

in this very special world.

There, he meets with some obstacles

which he tries to overcome

by some experiments.

Then the greatest obstacle,

the hardest test approaches.

Like higher education or

high school exams.

A very hard exam.

It is such a great hardship

that he starts to live

the most distressed moments

of his life.

And in that moment of crisis,

he comes to the threshold of death.

Like the way the clock shows,

he strikes the bottom.

But the one who bides,

who can survive,

gets his gift, finds his treasure

at the end.

Because the sun rises right after

the night which occurs due to the

earth's rotation and

we reach to the

light and treasure of the sun.

All in all, the whole hardships are

passed in this
special world of adventures.

The hero starts to return

to his ordinary world.

But he has changed.

I don't know if 7 years have passed,

but he has changed.

And he is ready for a new life now.

The open-ended subjects in the story

are solved,

the questions are answered and

we reach to the end of story or

to a new beginning.

Like the clock,
change doesn't have an end.

The transformation of hour and minute

hand, flow the time.

As the time flows,

we, who are living our personal lives,

change gradually.

Yes maybe we don't struggle with

monsters, but we

face with so important problems.

Like Neil,

like Frodo.

Like them, we face with problems too.

Because the transformation starts

with decisions, choices.

And it continues with

determination, working

and struggle.

If there is a treasure that you search

for the whole life,

of course there is a price for that.

"The cave you fear to enter, holds the

treasure you seek",

says Campbell.

In order to find that treasure,

do not fear to enter the cave,

do not fear of changing,

of transformation.

Yes, I've had great moments

with you today, that I can

add to my personal story.

So if you'll excuse me,

I want to record that moment.

Don't stop, you record it too,

we've had this together.

Our personal stories, with my words,

our personal
documentaries coincided today.

It seem that I have time.

One last thing for you,

I want to give a last advice.

You should start personal documentarism.

If there any images,

photos,

collect them.

Try to start a retrospective

journey by looking at them.

For instance, find a photo of yourself

taken 7 years ago.

Which dreams you had that day?

In which stage are you,
in your personal story?

Can you remember?

How you've changed.

And if you can, find a photo of

yourself when you were 7.

Ask yourself what do you want that child

to change into?

Change into what?

And what does
that child change

in his world, in the world we live in?

Look at that photo again.

If you get a little bit closer,

you can hear it whispers something to you.

Incline your ear. Listen.

What does it say?

Seize the moment.

It turns your life into unusual.

Do not fear.

Do not avoid.

Because you're changing

and you're changing the world.

Thank you.

(Applause)