1080PPR (Pixels per radi)

Rectangular film chamber. Photo: Peter Harris

Sounds weird, doesn’t it? Unsymposium 0.7 has been and gone. That was an eye opener to a completely different look at authorial control. Here I was thinking that the author had control over what codes and conventions they use to create a film of a specific genre. But I guess in retrospect, Adrian was right. The codes and conventions have the author at bay. You can’t just make a Sci-fi film out of nothing. You need the codes and conventions to make the film. You cant make it science fiction without them. So ultimately, the codes and conventions define what you can do, you don’t have that control. And with that your freedom is gone, you can’t do anything you want anymore. You realised that you’re at the will of technology and technique. Artificial intelligence will take over the world and humans will be the slaves to robots. It was nice knowing you.

Another point I guess, is that you can’t make the codes and conventions. They define themselves, or more so society and history does. But the author doesn’t. Back to the original point however (the one that comes in at the title), why do we have a rectangular screen for movies? There’s something you can’t control. It’s just deeply entrenched in cinema culture. It’s forever been a component of film. They’ve been rectangular frames, as far as I know, forever. That’s something right there that says a lot. What happens if someone makes a round film of sorts. Perhaps it could be interesting. I don’t know if it’s been done before, that requires further research. (Unless anyone else know’s differently).

There’s my take away for you. You’re under control. Now you do what they tell you.

Video unrelated, I couldn’t resist.

1 Thought.

  1. Pingback: This Week Was Bought to You By… | Networked Media

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