Sound Research WIKINDX
Sound Research WIKINDX |
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Darley, A. (2000). Visual digital culture: Surface play and spectacle in new media genres. London: Routledge. Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard (05/03/2006, 11:43) Last edited by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard (05/11/2006, 11:59) |
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| Resource type: Book ID no. (ISBN etc.): 0-415-16555-5 BibTeX citation key: Darley2000 Email resource to friend View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: aesthetics, Immersion, Narrative, Realism, Sound objects Creators: Darley Publisher: Routledge (London) |
Views: 8/805
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| Abstract |
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From the back cover: "Digital entertainment, from video games to simulation rides, is now a central feature of popular culture. Computer-based or digital technologies are supplanting the traditional production methods of television, film and video, provoking intense speculation about their impact on the character of art. Examining the digital imaging techniques across a wide range of media, including film, music video, computer games, theme parks and simulation rides, VISUAL DIGITAL CULTURE explores the relationship between evolving digital technologies and existing media and considers the effect of these new image forms on the experiences of digital culture." Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard |
| Notes |
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The essence of the book is that spectacle is emphasized in visual digital culture (inc. games) at the expense of (though not necessarily completely ignoring) semantics, narrative etc. These media solicit the spectator who is not looking for meaning but rather for diversion. Although audio is almost completely ignored as per the title (but often in such a way as to be misleading -- e.g., apparently only graphics are capable of rendering realism and audio has nothing to do with it), there are some useful discussions on realism that can be applied (if only he had!) to audio. Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard Last edited by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard |
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p.15
Quoting Gene Youngblood (Youngblood 1970, p.206): ""If the visual subsystems exist today, it is folly to assume that the computing hardware won't exist tomorrow. The notion of 'reality' will be utterly and finally obscured when we reach that point ... [of generating] totally convincing reality within the information processing system ... We're entering a Mythic age of electronic realities that exist only on a metaphysical plane."" Youngblood, G. (1970). Expanded cinema. London: Studio Vista. Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard |
| p.20 1995 saw the release of "the first feature-length computer synthesized film Toy Story". Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard |
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p.49
Makes the case that narrative cinema in the early C20th. supplanted the early cinema as spectacle which was derived from vaudeville, circus, amusement parks, dioramas etc.: "...the marvellous gives way to realism and characterisation." Darley gives no reason for this.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords: Narrative |
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p.61
Quoting Jean Baudrillard, Simulations, New York: Semiotext(e), 2003: "...no contemplation is possible. ... Montage and codification demand, in effect, that the receiver construe and decode by observing the same procedure whereby the work was assembled. The reading of the message is then only a perceptual examination of the code." (119-120). Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard |
| p.76 "They lack the symbolic depth and representational complexity of earlier forms, appearing by contrast to work within a drastically reduced field of meaning. They are direct and one-dimensional, about little, other than their ability to commandeer the sight and the senses." Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard |
| p.168 Talking of digital media (including games) and arguing that they emphasize spectacle over semantic meaning: "They do not propose spectators who are bent on interpretation, or who are looking for semantic resonance. The activity mobilised in this instance is not primarily intellectual, not reflective or interpretative in character, but rather sensual and diverting in other ways." Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard |
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pp.16–17
Claims that the idea of producing realism has dominated the computer image industry/research since the late 1970s. Realism is defined as the degree of resemblance to real-world objects with, for images, photography being the yardstick.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords: Realism |
| p.88 Argues that computer generated images, as they do not involve recording, are iconic rather than indexical in the Peircian sense -- this despite any attempt at photo-realism on the part of the animators. Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard |