Week 4_The history of camera

Monday’s lecture, a question be asked

Is there a chance that the accessibility of media nowadays ruins film making instead of ‘liberating it from the old’?

This hot topic is always mentioned in recent day especially in 21st century. Digital and traditional filmmaking biomes a conflict.

I found a source in which we can know how the VIDEO RECORDER
is being evolved. How the accessibility of media is improved  in the past many years1967_Sony_Video_Rover

 

Here is the PDF: Museum of vintage reel to reel video recorders. Open reel black and white antique video recorders.
Screenshot 2014-03-25 17.25.35

 

Jasmine mentioned the increasing accessibility of camera leads to a low quality production because many people are making a film without professional skills to secure their quality. However, she believes the accessibility wouldn’t be a matter to ruin filmmaking.

Adrian also asserts: we can’t define ourselves as filmmakers cause we film a video with our iPhone. On the other hand, it wouldn’t matter what camera equipment we use because there are lots of uses of video. Adrian gives a example that your grandmother uses a iPhone to film your 21st birthday party. Her purpose of filming is not to make a film but to share with your aunty who lives in US. Filming is as same as writing. We wouldn’t say a person who write 30pages blog post is novelist. What technology influences us is convenient for recording a video.

In my opinion, accessibility is good for creative product because camera equipment becomes common for people and they can film a video at anytime and anywhere. Especially, the emergence of  DV (Digital Video Camera) prompts filmmakers to produce with handheld cameras. In 1990s,small standard definition  cameras began recording  digitally. They were first use cinematically when they were embraced by the dogma 95  movement in Denmark. Thomas Winterberg’s The Celebration was fully filmed by hand-held camera which offers more spaces for their creativities. Filmmakers stylise their craft in an unconventional way.  In modern time, Some films, like Cloverfield (2008), highly employs the notion of DV camera for their filmmaking. The shaky, unstable visual effect begins to become a acceptable way for more people. I would say the video is not ruining the filmmaking but is helping.