In the final tutorial for Networked I spoke to Hugh about the relevance of Communications Histories and Technologies. I found it interesting that he touched on the subject as I have often related Networked and Comms in regards to how the printing press has developed and been remediated to a new, modern digital and online format that is applicable to contemporary society and therefore, Networked Media. In particular, I was interested in the concept of remediation studied in Comms and how this is applicable to the notion of spatial montage given older media technologies such as multiple graphic user interfaces, video games and television news reports have refashioned traditional modes of cinema.
The alteration of older forms of media to create new digital media is demonstrated through the concept of spatial montage, or the split screen technique that is continuously developing within cinema. Old forms of media can be utilised to remediate film narrative by viewing multiple screens within a single frame. This is becoming more prevalent within contemporary society and whilst no full feature length film is yet to be made using the concept, it has appeared frequently as a convention in comic book adaption films. Moreover, the new media artwork, My boyfriend came back from the war by Olia Lialina (1996) exemplifies how this non-linear form of narrative is applicable to film given it constructs a visual narrative on multiple screens, fostering audience active participation in cinema.
Spatial montage is a termed coined by Lev Manovich who outlines that “spatial montage could involve a number of images, potentially of different sizes and proportions, appearing on the screen at the same time to construct a non-linear narrative” (2001). This concept stems from contemporary societies subjection to dense information surfaces. Furthermore, our ability to “switch our attention rapidly from one program to another, from one set of windows and commands to another illustrates that we find multiple streams of audio-visual information presented simultaneously more satisfying than the single narrative stream of traditional cinema” (Manovich 2001). Ultimately, the multiple screens presented through older forms of media such as the multiple graphic user interfaces on computers, video games and television news report have been refashioned and implemented within cinema to create a new viewing experience.”
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