outmoded
VIS325H1 : contemporary art issues
john h. daniels faculty of architecture, landscape, and design
university of toronto
fall 2021
a short film made with an "outmoded" technology, a ten-year-old sony handycam, exploring whether or not the handycam is obsolete
what makes a piece of technology outmoded? its age? new technological advancements? is it forever out of fashion? if it does return, will it remain the same?
since its conception, film has been an ever-evolving medium involved in a multitude of disciplines. many older technologies and techniques are considered obsolete and outmoded by today’s standard. however, like other older technologies experiencing a renaissance, are older film technologies experiencing the same? even though there is a push toward the latest and greatest devices, trends are pointing toward the revival of vintage technologies. not only is a renaissance of older film technologies occurring but film techniques are also making a return without realizing.
one of the first established filmmaking techniques set up by the lumière brothers called “actualités,” 50-second short films shot on celluloid used to depict everyday life. however, the rise in preference for narrative films led to the decline of actualités and was seen as outdated as a result of technological advancements. thus, actuality style filming appeared to be lost to history and a technique of the past.
filmed with a roughly ten-year-old sony handycam, such technology was designed as a product to film home videos marketed to families. considering the video camera’s age, it and similar products are seen as old and obsolete compared to their newer counterparts. the release of the new iphone pros with their advanced filming capabilities such as “cinematic mode” seemed to signal the end of a need for home video cameras, however, that does not appear to be the case.
both actuality filmmaking and sony handycams were originally lost to time or cast aside for newer equivalents, yet they have been revived but not how they were originally intended. the aim of this piece is to highlight the fact that just because a piece of technology is deemed to be outmoded does not necessarily mean it is out of fashion. interestingly, both the handycam and actualités have found a new home together in the form of youtube vlogs. while actuality filming techniques have been appropriated unknowingly by influencers in the production of their videos, they have continued the tradition of actuality filmmaking. similar to the rebirth of polaroid cameras, the use of handycams has become popularized by influencers using them to film their vlogs instead of newer cameras. this piece compares the replicated actuality films and how they are manipulated to suit the needs of vloggers and how these previous techniques are still in use despite being in mode at the end of the 19th century.
are actualités and the sony handycam outmoded or are their traditional uses out of fashion?