Final Annotated Bibliography Post
After plenty of research, here I am. Finished at last. It was good fun looking around and finding different links and quotes and extracts in order to learn more about my extract. It was a brand new experience for me, something I have never done before. i certainly learnt a lot about the issue and myself:
Hope You enjoy going through all the entries!!!!!
Here are the links to all the other entries:
Pre: http://raws.adc.rmit.edu.au/~s3328003/blog2/?p=124 In my first blog I just explained how I was feeling and what I needed to do to get me ready for the task.
# 1: http://raws.adc.rmit.edu.au/~s3328003/blog2/?p=127 This entry introduced the author of the extract I was dealing with, Lev Manovich. I thought in order to research and study the extract, finding information about the author was critical.
#2: http://raws.adc.rmit.edu.au/~s3328003/blog2/?p=137 Explanation about why I chose the 3rd extract – just some background information
#3: http://raws.adc.rmit.edu.au/~s3328003/blog2/?p=139 Spoke about the movie convention i went to while I was away in Week 6. It was the 66th annual Australian International Movie Convention which was extremely relevant and insightful
#4: http://raws.adc.rmit.edu.au/~s3328003/blog2/?p=145 About John Fithian who is the CEO of the Theatres association in USA
#5: http://raws.adc.rmit.edu.au/~s3328003/blog2/?p=150 In this blog I focused ont he Digital transition in the cinema industry and what this transition offers.
#6: http://raws.adc.rmit.edu.au/~s3328003/blog2/?p=154 I gave some arguments for how New Media will over take cinema
#7: http://raws.adc.rmit.edu.au/~s3328003/blog2/?p=156 Here are some examples of Spatial Montage in TV
#8: http://raws.adc.rmit.edu.au/~s3328003/blog2/?p=159 Apple’s Lion is a great example for spatial montage and the idea that we can now do many things at once
#9: http://raws.adc.rmit.edu.au/~s3328003/blog2/?p=161 The Tracey Fragments is a movie that uses spatial montage.
Bibliography:
- Ina Fried, 2010, Apple unveils new MacBook Airs, previews Lion [Online] (updated October 20 2010) available at http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20020208-56.html [Accessed 17 January 2011].
- Variety, 2007, The Tracey Fragments, russel Edwards, viewed 25 August 2011, http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117932734/
- Manovich. Lev “Cinematic and Graphic: Cinegratography” The Language of new Media, Cambridge, mass, MIT Press. 2001. 309-330 p.328
- Nash, C 2011, ‘Sprockets Pixels & Moving Money’, Film Ink, September Issue, p. 58-61.
Fin.
Annotated bibliography #9
So, back to the ‘Tracey Fragments’, which was released in 2007. I believe this is the greatest example which brings absolutely everything together.
This is a reviews that wraps it all up:
Split-screen techniques fail to hide a paucity of content and a piecemeal narrative in “The Tracey Fragments,” the latest offering from vet Canadian indie helmer Bruce McDonald. Pic is derived from a series of ’80s monologues about a disturbed teenage girl, which screenwriter Maureen Medved fashioned into a novel. Faux-MTV artiness may fool fest auds into thinking they are watching something cutting-edge. Wider audience will prove more elusive, as protag’s contemporaries are unlikely to be convinced by their parents’ idea of avant-garde. (Variety.com)
While the split-screen features are phenomenal, the reviewer believes it takes away from the actual story. So while people today can take in more at once, it is still difficult to merge it with cinema. I believe that it will take time for people to be able to consume cinema with split-screen, spatial montage.
The Tracey Fragments uses its non-standard visual style, a split-screen approach that can show from one to sixteen frames at any one time. This is truly using spatial montage and integrating it into the world of cinema. The reviews for this film were very average – emphasising the point that traditional cinema is till the way of the world.
Spatial Montage – Fragmentation – Split Screen – Whatever you wanna call it!!!!
Annotated Bibliography #8
Mac OS X – Apple Inc.’s computer operating system – includes a feature called ‘exposè’, allowing users to instantly view all open windows of simultaneously running applications in one view. Mac OS X Lion, Apple’s brand new operating system, takes this one step further with a feature called, mission control, providing
“an overview of running applications combining other Mac OS features including Expose, Spaces (a feature enabling users to switch instantly between different screens), Dashboard and full-screen apps” (Apple unveils new MacBook Airs, previews Lion).
This feature highlights the way in which the aesthetics of density have infiltrated human consciousness, which is enhancing our ability to multitask while simultaneously depriving us of providing applications with undivided attention. The web browser, too, is capable of spatially arranging useful tools in one screen. Modern day web browsers such as Mozilla’s ‘Firefox’, Google’s ‘Chrome’, Apple’s ‘Safari’ and the ‘Opera’ browser include add-ons that allow users to see the weather, emails, Facebook notifications, bookmarks and all open tabs all in one view.
Annotated Bibliography #7
here are some examples of the way new media takes on this idea of more things all at once.
Fox Sports, for example, have something called the ‘Mega Wall’ where they have 6 split screens showing all different things happening at the same time. this usually occurs for the footy. So they may show the entire ground, one specific player, the crowd and the coach. ALL AT ONCE.
Sky news also does this now with ‘Sky news Active’ where they split up the screen with all different angles…Lev Manovich is right!!! Spatial Montage is most prominent in today’s society.
Annotated Bibliography #6
Here are a couple of arguments about how new media and things like spatial montage will in fact take over cinema.
These audiences haven’t disappeared, they’re just elsewhere – they’re on the internet.” (Michelle Carey, MIFF director)
People these days can multi-task. Human beings can do more things all at the same time. For example, my mum will be cooking, cutting vegetables, frying something and having something in the oven, while on the phone and talking to me at the same time. Humans are made differently these days and can cope with much more. To mimic our day-to-day lives, new media has in some sort of way done this. Its all about everything at once or as many things as possible at once.
Annotated Bibliography #5
Now I will be talking about some of the reasons why the traditional form of cinema has a huge chance to stick around.
THE DIGITAL TRANSITION is happening right now all over the world.
At present, perhaps the most pertinent change to the cinematic landscape is the conversion of cinemas to digital, an issue that has been a point of contention for the Australian film industry for years… (Cara Nash, Film Ink)
No longer will cinemas be using the traditional 35mm film. The transition is happening right now and tis to 2K projectors which offer the greatest quality picture out of anything else. Throughout the convention I heard many people talk about the opportunities this has to offer for the film industry.
Joel Pearlman, Managing Director of Roadshow Film Distributors, spoke about how the shift enables cinemas to do more. It enables alternate content to be shown on the screens, not just the classical, conventional way that everyone knows. In other words, digital allows cinemas to do exactly what Lev Manovich speaks about – spatial montage is possible with digital. As I was sitting in one of the cinemas at the convention, I saw for the first time what cinema is really capable of. There were projections of picture on the side walls, snow came down from the roof and it was then that i realised how much potential cinema has, especially with digital cinema.
Whats more is that lots of experts spoke about why cinema is here to stay. The main reason is because cinema is UNIQUE. It isn’t something you can do at home. Sitting in a dark room, with hundreds of other people and being immersed by the massive screen is not possible anywhere else and that is why people come.
Cinema attendance is at record levels, or certainly at parity with record levels…(Mike Baard, Universal Pictures)
While there are lots of arguments for why perhaps new media and spatial montage will take over cinema and film – the experts and the people in the industry believe that Cinema is here for a very long time.
Annotated Bibliography #4
I really feel like I should be using this cinema convention I am currently at to my advantage. EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING is relevant. We just had a luncheon where the president and CEO of the National Association of theatre owners of the USA spoke to us. He brought up a statistic that I felt was really interesting and applicable to the extract. He said that there is a 38% increase in the last 5 years in cinema on a global basis. That mean that despite all the threat new media offers – cinema is still growing and people are still going. INCREDIBLE!!!!
Thats just a little interesting stat i thought I would share will you all!!!
John himself:
Annotated Bibliography #3
I am lucky enough to currently be at the 66th anual Australian International Movie Convention – AIMC!!! http://www.movieconvention.com.au/ Its a truly remarkable experience and being right in the middle of the cinema industry has resulted in lots of thoughts and ideas racing through my brain, so I thought I would tackle some!!!
First of all, in my opinion, cinema is not on the way out. Its an amazingly unique medium that will always be a part of everyones life in all sorts of ways. This belief has been enhanced by being at this convention. Its insightful, interesting but most importantly, it has made me realised how much i love movies. I have seen 5 movies in a day and a half and there is lots more to come. The films are completely different to each other and offer all sorts of different ways to present cinema.
There is a certain magic to the traditional way of cinema that will never go extinct. I do agree, with Manovich in regards tot he fact that new media is going to be, if not already, the biggest thing in technology. Everyone is drawn to it and everyone knows it. Its in everyones lives and will be forever. I believe its a completely different medium to cinema in some ways but in other ways i believe they are similar enough to be intertwined and they are capable of working together.
So while Manovich argues:
we may find multiple streams of audio-visual information presented simultaneously more satisfying than a single stream of traditional cinema.
I still believe that the single stream of traditional cinema will be with us forever. Its too good to give up!!!!
Annotated Bibliography #2
So lets quickly look at the extract itself – after all, that is the focus of what we are actually trying to do.
Three: This new cinematic aesthetics of density seems to be highly appropriate for our age. If we are surrounded by highly dense information surfaces, from city streets to Web pages, it is appropriate to expect from cinema a similar logic. In similar fashion, we may think of spatial montage as reflecting another contemporary daily experience – working with a number of different applications on a computer at once. If we are now used to switching our attention rapidly from one program to another, from one set of windows and commands to another, we may find multiple streams of audio-visual information presented simultaneously, more satisfying than the single stream of traditional cinema.
- Manovich. Lev “Cinematic and Graphic: Cinegratography” The Language of New Media, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. 2001. 309-330 p.328
So first i’ll explain why I chose this extract from all three and why I found it so interesting and insightful.
I was immediately drawn to this extract for several reasons but mostly because of the cinema aspect that it deals with. I am personally extremely passionate about cinema and its history. I believe that cinema and the new way of gaining information and switching our attention rapidly can be compared and analysed in all sorts of ways. I love the idea that we as humans have progressed and that perhaps the single stream of traditional cinema is no longer as satisfying as multiple streams of audio-visual information presented simultaneously. I’m not so sure whether or not I agree with that as I still am infatuated with cinema and I still find that the world of cinema still fascinates me and is able to take me to another world. Despite my love for cinema I am also very into the new language of media and I am now used to switching my attention rapidly from one program to another. I have conformed, in a way, to this new media but I am still in the past, with te traditional way of cinema and I’m not sure if I will ever be able to let that go.
In my next entries I want to focus on the differences between cinema and this new media and whether or not cinema is on its way out as we now have shorter attention spans that like to see more things at the same time just like in our day-to-day lives.
I also have an idea to look at Apple’s new operating system, ‘Lion’, as it has really taken on this idea of “working with a number of different applications on a computer at once.” I also want to go back and look at the film “The Tracey Fragments” as I believe it is the perfect example of cinema and the new media being intertwined together - working togetehr.
I also want to focus on the shift from traditional cinema to digital cinema and they way it simplifies film and how it has the potential to go much further than simply showing a movie on a screen.
Annotated Bibliography #1
I thought it would be a good idea to start of this wonderful assignment with some background on the guy I am actually analysing who wrote ‘extract 3′ .
His name is Lev Manovich.
And what do you know? here he is. And look! Standing in front of a spatial Montage or Spatial fragmentation. Thats just perfect!
Lev Manovich is a Professor at the Visual Arts Department at the University of California where he teaches courses in digital art, history and theory of digital culture, and digital humanities. He also directs Software Studies Initiative at California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology. Pretty Impressive!!
He has been working with computer media as an artist, computer animator, designer, and programmer since 1984 and he is the author of such books as ‘Software Takes Command’, ‘Black Box – White Cube’, ‘Soft Cinema DVD’, ‘The Language of New Media’(which is the book that holds the extract I will be analysing) as well as over 100 articles which have been published in 30 countries and reprinted over 400 times.
”A hundred years after cinema’s birth, cinematic ways of seeing the world, of
structuring time, of narrating a story, of linking one experience to the next, are
being extended to become the basic ways in which computer users access and
interact with all cultural data. In this way, the computer fulfills the promise of
cinema as a visual Esperanto which pre-occupied many film artists and critics in
the 1920s, from Griffith to Vertov. Indeed, millions of computer users
communicate with each other through the same computer interface. And, in
contrast to cinema where most of its ‘users’ were able to ‘understand’ cinematic
language but not ‘speak’ it (i.e., make films), all computer users can ‘speak’ the
language of the interface. They are active users of the interface, employing it to
perform many tasks: send email, organize their files, run various applications, and
so on.”
This is the very first extract that appears in Manovich’s book ‘The Language of New Media’. Already, we can see how relevant Lev and his book are to what we are studying in Networked Media and what I am intending to analyse for my annotated bibliography. It is stressing how similar the older Cinema and the new media of the computer are to each other yet how computers are extending humans ability to communicate easier in the way that all computer users can ‘speak’ the language of the interface. This is unlike cinema where most of its ‘users’ were able to understand cinematic language but not speak it (making films)
This is just a quick introduction for what should be a very interesting journey for both myself and the reader. I thought I would just slowly put myself into this task by starting with this post and gradually moving further and further, deeper and deeper into the task.
Stay tuned for the next entry where i will be discussing the extract itself!!!
