The reading this week by Sørenssen explores Astruc’s hopes and predictions for how film and television would be a revolution in not only entertainment, but also “a fundamental tool for human communication” (Sørenssen 2008, p.47) and compares them to the realisation of the contemporary world.

One of Astruc’s main predictions was that “new and expensive technology would eventually spawn more consumer friendly versions” (Sørenssen 2008, p.50) and this increased access to media production technologies would lead to diversity in the market.

Sørenssen outlines three things, which must change in the market to allow for this change to happen:

• Economic Development: The change and development in price between products available for professionals and amateurs
• Miniaturisation: The change in physical size of equipment to become more appropriate for individual operation
• New and alternative forms of distribution: The change in distribution channels towards channels for alternative products

Sørenssen explores how the rise in availability and popularity in technologies such as the camcorder (and later, the smartphone) allow for a democratic change in the public sphere of media publications. The popularity of iPhones alone saw 33.8 billion units sold in the last quarter of 2013 (Velazco, 2013). Concurrently, the rise in popularity of the Internet has created channels for people to share their content, with ComScore (2013) finding that in April 2013, 38.8 billion hours of online video content were viewed.

The smartphone and rise in video quality in smartphones has led to an increase in digital production, as the drop in price (economic development) and change in size (miniaturisation) has made the equipment more accessible for the average consumer. In addition to this, YouTube has created an alternative distribution channel for consumers. As discussed by Sørenssen (2008, p.54), YouTube has created “an open channel for the teeming millions of prospective content producers” who would otherwise would not have had the place to share their content.

This rise in popularity and content development follows Astruc’s vision for the future of content production. Astruc hoped that alternative spheres for content creation and sharing would further democracise the media. He hoped that authors would one day create and communicate ideas with a camera, not a pen, and that new media for lead to new ways of producing and understanding content. Through the rise in popularity of smartphones, Astruc’s vision is slowly becoming realised.

ComScore 2013, “comScore Releases April 2013 U.S. Online Video Rankings”, viewed March 14 2014, <http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press_Releases/2013/5/comScore_Releases_April_2013_US_Online_Video_Rankings&gt;

Sørenssen B 2008, “Digital video and Alexandre Astruc’s caméra-stylo: the new avant-garde in documentary realized?” Studies in Documentary Film, vol. 2, no. 1

Velazco C. 2013, “Apple Sold 33.8 Million iPhones, 14.1 Million iPads and 4.6 Million Macs in Q4 2013”, TechCrunch, viewed March 14 2014, <http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/28/apple-q4-2013-iphone-ipad-mac-sales/&gt;