Time Based Media: Film, Video, Digital

The Camera Arts

TIME BASED MEDIA: FILM, VIDEO, DIGITAL

With traditional film, what we see as a continuous moving image is actually a linear progression of still photos on a single reel that pass through a lens at a certain rate of speed and are projected onto a screen. We saw a simple form of this process earlier in the pioneering work of Eadweard Muybridge.

 

Eadweard Muybridge, Sequence of a Horse Jumping, 1904.
Image is in the public domain

 

The first motion picture cameras were invented in Europe during the late nineteenth century. These early “movies” lacked a soundtrack and were normally shown along with a live pianist, organ player, or orchestra in the theatre to provide the musical accompaniment. Here are the first 3 "home movies" ever made, each lasting only a few seconds:

https://youtu.be/bWOLLv70W-I Links to an external site.

 

Silent films are obviously the foundation for modern movies, important to realize, although we might think of them as outdated, they contain many cinematic innovations, refinements, technical effects, and artistic advancements that are still used in the greatest films of our contemporary time. Here is an interview with a young filmmaker and why they love silent films:

https://youtu.be/Bc2xw2PQZ_U Links to an external site.

 

Unique to the moving image is its ability to unfold an idea or narrative over time, using the same elements and principles inherent in any artistic medium. Film stills Links to an external site. show how dramatic use of lighting, staging and set compositions are embedded throughout an entire film, for a formal comparisons to the film stills, it's interesting to view the work of contemporary artists, Cindy Sherman Links to an external site.. Similar to film, Sherman tells a believable story and implies what has come before and what will come after in her still photographs.

https://youtu.be/Z9kL0YMpQDg?list=PLfYVzk0sNiGH8bKMoQ214i_V4lqzYyH7K Links to an external site.

 

Video art, first appearing in the 1960’s and 70’s, using magnetic tape to record images and sound together. The advantage of video over film is the instant playback and editing capability.

One of the pioneers in using video as an art form was Doris Chase Links to an external site.. She began by integrating her sculptures with interactive dancers, using special effects to create dreamlike work, and spoke of her ideas in terms of painting with light. Unlike filmmakers, video artists frequently combine their medium with installation Links to an external site., an art form that uses entire rooms or other site-specific spaces, to achieve effects beyond mere projection -- the viewer becomes part of the work by proximity and entering the installation.

South Korean video artist Nam June Paik Links to an external site. made breakthrough works that comment on culture, technology and politics. Contemporary video artist Bill Viola Links to an external site.creates work that is more painterly and physically dramatic, often training the camera on figures within a staged set or spotlighted figures in dark surroundings as they act out emotional gestures and expressions in slow motion. Indeed, in this piece he is taking inspiration from painting, as his work brings to life and reenacts the emotional embrace seen in the Italian Renaissance painter Jocopo Pontormo’s work The Visitation (below).

The Greeting Links to an external site.

 

Jacopo Pontormo, The Visitation, 1528, oil on canvas.
The Church of San Francesco e Michele, Carmignano, Italy.
 Image is the public domain.

 

Similar to the impact the camera had over one hundred and fifty years ago,  Computer and digital technology has had a similar affect and has revolutionized the visual art landscape! Some artists now use digital technology to extend the reach of creative possibilities, sophisticated software allows any computer user the opportunity to create and manipulate images and information. From still images and animation to streaming digital content and digital installations, computers have become creative tools.

In a blending of traditional and new media, artist Chris Finley Links to an external site. uses digital templates – software based composition formats – to create his portraits. What is interesting to me is the similarity between Finley's portraits and the portraits of Francis Bacon from the 1970's:

Francis Bacon—Self Portrait, 1973 oil on canvas

 

Chris Finley, Drool, Snatch, #1, 2017 sign enamel on canvas over panel

 

The work of German artist Jochem Hendricks combines digital technology and human sight. His "eye drawings" rely on a computer interface to translate the process of looking, into a physical drawing without the interference of the artist's hand. In the drawing below, Hendricks is recording the pattern his eyes take as they look at a bill:

 

Jochem Hendricks, Bill, eye drawing c. 1992-93

 

Digital technology is a big part of the video and motion picture industries with the capability for high definition images, better editing resources, and new areas for exploration by the artist.

The camera arts are relatively new mediums to the world of art, but their contributions are incredibly significant. They are certainly the most complex. Like traditional mediums of drawing, painting and sculpture they allow new, creative exploration of ideas when making objects and images. The difference is in their avenue of expression: by recording images and experiences through light and electronics they, on the one hand, narrow the gap between the worlds of the ‘real’ and the ‘imagined’ and on the other hand offers us an art form that can invent its own reality with the inclusion of the dimension of time. We watch as a narrative unfolds in front of our eyes. Digital technology has created a whole new kind of spatial dimension: cyberspace.