User:ScottS~enwikiversity

=Analytical Writing=

Statement of Intent
 I firmly believe that knowledge of the past can help us deal with the issues of today, even if only to give us the chance to learn from the mistakes of those that came before us and with that in mind I'd like to do some research on the history of the film industry and it's cultural importance throughout the 1900s to today. I've always been a little interested in video production and now that big camera companies such as Canon are making professional quality cameras that can be used for either still photography or video. I think it would be worth while to do some research not only into where video and filmmaking began but also where it is heading and the cultural impact it has had in the past and continues to today, especially as photography and video have become more and more intertwined with each other. I was kind of thinking about separating this paper into several smaller papers, similar to the chapters of a book so that each chapter covers an essential portion of the subject. That way I could do a few pages a week rather than one huge paper throughout the duration of the class. I feel more confident in my writing in this way and I think my writing will be the better for it.

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Overview
Through this class I hope to find out at least a little something about the video and film industry, where it is heading as it becomes more intertwined with still photography, and maybe even how it could affect my future as a still photographer either for the better or for the worse. I also hope to improve my writing abilities some more as well as my research capabilities.

Rationale
left text Through this class I hope to find out at least a little something about the video and film industry, where it is heading as it becomes more intertwined with still photography, and maybe even how it could affect my future as a still photographer either for the better or for the worse. I also hope to improve my writing abilities some more as well as my research capabilities.

Publication


Schedule



 * 1) week 2: Brainstorm for Ideas
 * 2) week 3: look up sources for history of film
 * 3) week 4:start writing history of film
 * 4) week 5: countinue writing history of film
 * 5) week 6: edit history of film
 * 6) week 7: Start Video V. Photo
 * 7) week 8: Countinue Video V. Photo
 * 8) week 9: Final Edits For both
 * 9) week 10: Final Copy of Both posted

Anticipated Problems


Week 6 Project Review


After Week 6

 * Film history - arising from photography
 * Current conflict/intersection between photography and video and Your own developing opinions

Film History

As in photography, films throughout the years have chronicled the changes in America. Due to this as well as the recent changes in camera technology I became curious about film or video. In recent years the major photographic brands such as Canon and Nikon have begun to assimilate video or film and still photography. This assimilation of two such mighty tools of mass media aroused my curiosity as to how still photography and motion pictures have affected each other. Therefore, in order to get a better understanding of how photography and motion pictures are linked I decided to start out my search for information by investigating a little bit of the history behind motion pictures or video and then contrasting it to the history behind photography. The experimentation into motion pictures began with the motion photography experiments and invention of the Zoopraxiscope created by Eadweard Muybridge. Muybridge's motion photography experiments were an amazing state of the art creation. The idea behind them was to show the leg movements of a horse while running. This feat was accomplished through the development of an improved shutter speed developed by Muybridge and a series of cameras lined up along a race track, so that when a horse galloped down the track each camera would go off as the horse passed the camera. Through these experiments, Muybridge was able to freeze each movement of the horse as it galloped past the camera. The end effect is very much like what a flip book would look like if you were to take each page out and set them up side by side. In order to exhibit his motion photography Muybridge invented the Zoopraxiscope. Now I have no doubt that most people have seen and likely even played with a Zoopraxiscope in one form or another as a child. In its most basic design a Zoopraxiscope is a series of photos of a moving subject, where each picture depicts a different part of the subject's movement, which when put on a cylinder of paper and spun like a top while being viewed through a slit between two pieces of paper, ends up looking a bit like a spinning flip book. Having found out how motion pictures started off I decided the next step should be the birth of modern motion pictures, or perhaps not so modern in today's world. Modern motion pictures came about due to the progress made by such innovators as George Eastman, Hannibal Goodwin, Louis Lumiere, and none other than the great Thomas Edison himself. I guess you could say that the innovation toward modern motion pictures started with George Eastman, who together with W. H. Walker invented a holder for a roll of gelatin layer coated photographic paper. A great improvement in comparison to the single-shot coated glass plates previously used in still photography. Although this method was still far from ideal since each image recorded on the paper rolls could not be replicated in more prints like glass plate negatives. So what does this have to do with motion pictures? Nothing on its own, but when combined with the invention of nitrocellulose film, the first transparent and flexible film invented by Hannibal Goodman in 1887, you have the basis for the invention and use of none other than thirty-five millimeter film. The invention of the first portable motion picture camera by Lumiere and the invention of the kinetoscope as well as the Vinetophone, early motion picture exhibition devices, invented by Edison provided the need for thirty-five millimeter film. Most of Edison’s motion picture inventions only used thirty-five millimeter film. Thirty-five millimeter film is probably one of the most useful film sizes ever invented because not only was it used in motion picture cameras, but after Kodak adapted their cameras for the new thirty-five millimeter film, it became an industry standard for most types of still photography as well. This new state of the art film and the invention of the single-lens reflex camera, invented by Thomas Sutton, brought about the "golden" days of photography, especially photojournalism, and the creation of the film strip and motion picture shows, although motion picture shows, or the movies as we call them today, didn't really take off until a bit later on. While still photography took a while to reach its height in the days of film negatives, when compared with the growth of the film industry in the 1900s, its progress looks like the pace of a tortoise when compared to a hare. Despite the speed of this fast growth industry motion pictures didn’t really start cooking until the 1920s. This was when the big production companies began emerging, companies such as MGM, Warner Brothers, and RKO. This was the pre-sound era of motion pictures which existed between WWI and the Depression. Studios emerged and the studio actor came with them. As motion pictures became more popular studios started adding sound tracks via live music right there in the theater and later even added spoken scripts that synced up with the movies. While the film industry was a major development during this time still photography still held sway as an invaluable form of mass media communication, documentation, and advertisement. The growth of the country sparked a growth in ideas concerning business and morals. This growth of business ideas lead to more prolific use of both still photography and motion pictures in new ways. The mid 1930s-1940s saw the creation of color film. Although the first permanent color photograph had already been created in 1861 by James Clerk Maxwell, color film didn’t become an affordable or viable option for commercial use until the 1940s. At first the general public was indifferent to color imagery, but as color film processes improved and became more affordable, more and more films were filmed in color after World War II. This shift towards the preferred use of color film had the same impact on all types of photography as well. By the end of the 1960s color film was the preferred type of film for both motion pictures and still photography. Color film continued to be the preferred type of film throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and part of the 1990s. The next great innovation in still photography and motion pictures was the digital camera. The technology used in digital cameras evolved from the same technology used to record television images. The beginning of this technology can be traced all the way back to 1951 with the creation of the first video tape recorder (VTR), which captured live images from television cameras then converted the information into electrical impulses and saved it on a magnetic tape. During the 1960s NASA used digital signals with their space probes to map the surface of the moon. Computers were also innovated during this time allowing NASA to enhance the images coming back from their space probes. There you have a basis not only for kind of digital images but also computer enhancement of digital images that we use today. The government also began using digital image technology for their spy satellites. In the mid-1970s Kodak began inventing some solid-state image sensors that converted light into digital images both for professional and home consumers and in 1986 Kodak created the first megapixel sensor. This was capable of recording 1.4 million pixels and produced a 5x7-inch digital photo print. From this point on digital image technology would continue to grow as more and more companies continued to develop digital cameras both for still photography. Today most point and shoot fixed lens cameras have a video option in their menu and all cell phones have a small camera inside that can capture both video and still images. As far as professional commercial 35mm cameras are concerned, the two most used brands by professionals are Canon and Nikon. Both Canon and Nikon have recently begun developing and selling digital SLR cameras with high definition video built into the camera, allowing professional photographers to shoot video as well as still photography and videographers to do vice versa. Videographers also got the added benefit of the various lens options and focal lengths used in commercial photography for use in their videos. Wherever video or still photography is going, I believe they will continue to influence and affect one another. As evidenced in history I think that an innovation of some sort in one of these mighty industries of mass media will transfer over into the other. As the motion picture industry was born from experiments in still photography so will the two industries continue to influence each other thereby bring the two closer and closer together, continuing to expand each other not only in their respective fields but also expanding themselves into each others fields.

left text Bibliography Rosenblum, Naomi. A World History of Photography. Fourth Edition. 1. New York, NY: Abbeville Press, 2007. 249-250. Print. Rosenblum, Naomi. A World History of Photography. Fourth Edition. 1. New York, NY: Abbeville Press, 2007. 259-261. Print. Rosenblum, Naomi. A World History of Photography. Fourth Edition. 1. New York, NY: Abbeville Press, 2007. 280. Print. Bellis, Mary. "The Kinetoscope." About.com: Inventors. About.com Guide, 2010. Web. 23 Mar 2010. <http://inventors.about.com/od/kstartinventions/a/Kinetoscope Bellis, Mary. "Eadweard Muybridge." About.com: Inventors. About.com Guide, 2010. Web. 23 Mar 2010. .

Photography V. Video

On January 12, 2010 I started out my Winter Quarter at the Art Institute of Seattle with a feeling of excitement and dismay. Excited about my Business of Photography, Photography Critique, Contemporary Art and Design, and Analytical Writing classes, but dismayed because of my Fundamentals of Video class. I wasn't dismayed because of who the instructor was, Ben Kerns who is a great teacher and an all around good person, but because of the content of the class in question. I was, to say the least, a bit dubious about the usefulness of what I'd learn in this class and, at the time, was not at all interested in multimedia art or video. I remember thinking that photography and video were two different disciplines that had very little to do with each other.

The first day of class, Ben Kerns, the instructor, was sitting nonchalantly at the front of the classroom surrounded by various types of video and audio equipment. I felt my spirits drop as I took my seat and took a closer look at the bulky old video cameras on their equally bulky tripods. Then Ben stood up and, while facing the class, said "A video is nothing more than an entire series of photographs shown in sequence at 30 frames per second." I had never thought of a video as simply a series of photographs before. This statement started me to thinking that perhaps video and photography weren't that different after all. He then went on to describe how each of the video cameras worked and how we wouldn't be using any of those old cameras in this video class because the photo cage, where I work, got a few of the new Canon 5D Mark II digital SLR cameras, which have an HD video mode. The Canon 5D Mark II is Canon's newest 35 mm sized optical sensor digital SLR camera. This camera stands out as the first digital camera to shoot both photography and High Definition (HD) video. As Ben went through the motions of showing the class how to operate the 5D Mark II the class conversation shifted towards the subject of how video and photography are slowly combining and what this means for photography. However, my Fundamentals of Video class isn’t the only place where I’ve been discussing the assimilation of photography and video. The Photo Cage, where I work, has also been talking about a future combination with the video cage, optimistically being called the “Super Cage,” and there has even been talk of the photography and video programs themselves being combined as well.

As the weeks have gone by I’ve learned through my video class, work, and my own initiative that the assimilation of video and photography is a much bigger issue in the photography industry than I initially thought. There are mainly two sides to the subject that photographers tend to take. One is that they embrace the combination of audio, video, and photography as making photography as a whole better and the other is that the combination of the two powerful forms of mass media will be a train wreck because they are two completely different disciplines. An article on digitalphotopro.com called Will Video Kill the Still Photography Star? by Louis Lesko (freelance photographer, director, and writer) discusses the pros of video and photography combining. He believes that it's going to open up the photography industry to a new level of professional skill sets and help set professional photographers apart by making professional photography more about skill than about luck or access to digital equipment. A similar article called The Convergence of Still Photography & Video on luminous-landscape.com by photographer James Russell goes along the same lines as Louis Lesko's article about embracing digital imagery in all its forms and functions while also elaborating how the two might come to depend on one another. Then there's the opposite side of the spectrum which, in this case, will be exemplified in an article on blogs.creativecow.net called Video VS Still Images by Jaki Schklar (long-term professional photographer, director, and videographer) who favors still images as having a stronger impact than video. Jaki maintains that the motion of video allows videographers to get away with inferior imagery in their video clips. Whereas a photographer is more focused on the composition and lighting of their imagery because they only get one shot with nothing to distract the viewer from the content of the image.

Whether or not photographers are actually better at composing and lighting than videographers seems debatable. Personally I've seen some nature documentaries where the imagery portrayed in the video clips beat out most still images taken by a nature photographer. My video instructor Ben Kerns is a professional photographer and videographer that started out as a photographer and then took an interest in video later on. He says that the best videographers have some training as a photographer. I tend to agree with this because photographers do generally have more training in lighting and composition, but it's not necessarily a universal truth. I believe that a skill in one of the two mediums transfers over to complement and enhance the other.

Whether or not the combination of video and photography ends up being a train wreck is anybody’s guess, only time will tell. I, however, prefer to believe that this mighty assimilation of art mediums and mass media tools will only open up more doors for myself and other photographers rather than closing them. Already this assimilation is just in its infancy and photographers of all types are making use of it to enhance their work. Whether it be photojournalism, fashion photography, or product advertising photography, they all have something to gain by this assimilation. Perhaps this view of mine is a bit optimistic, but I would rather be optimistic and have things turn out to be a train wreck rather than be skeptical and miss the chance to be an innovator in my field of study.

Bibligraphy

Schklar, Jaki. "Video VS Still Images." blogs.creativecow.net. blogs.creativecow.net, 4 July 2007. Web. 20 Mar 2010. .

Russel, James. "The convergence of Still Photography & video." luminous-landscape.com. luminous-landscape.com, 2010. Web. 21 Mar 2010. <http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/convergence.shtml>.

Lesko, Louis. "Will Video Kill The Still Photography Star?." digitalphotopro.com. Digital Photo Pro, 2010. Web. 22 Mar 2010. <http://www.digitalphotopro.com/business/will-video-kill-the-still-photography-star.html?start=2>.