Manovich on New Media

"The computerization of culture not only leads to the emergence of new cultural forms such as computer games and virtual worlds; it redefines existing ones such as photography and cinema. " (Manovich, 2002: 35) 

Manovich argues that the rise of new Media not only introduced new media platforms, but also reinvented those that already existed. It has even changed the somewhat previously untouchable nature of the  static and moving image. In particular, he focuses on the shift that cinema has experienced. The validity of revolutionary nature of these changes however, can be questioned. Is new media really the instigator towards the first major reformation of this industry? 

In actuality, many of new media's revolutionary principles can be traced back to far earlier methods, nullifying its apparent uniqueness. For one, it is easy to argue against its claims that digital media have allowed a multitude of platforms, such as text, moving images and sounds to be be shared and viewed through one device for the first time. As far back as the 1920s, predating the modern PC by nearly a century, Manovich points out that filmmakers were combining sound, text and moving images together. This would make cinema the original platform for multimedia. 

Furthermore, is the debate that whilst  digital media is discrete, analogue media can only be continuous. Manovich contrasts the 2D sampling of space with the cinemas sampling of time in order to debate this issue. The sampling of 24 frames a second created whilst filming can be used to prove that cinema had already prepared us for new media. "All that remained was to take this already discrete representation and to quantify it," (Manovich, 2002: 66)  a simple mechanical step. 

In summary, it cannot be ignored how new media has changed the way we look at existing media platforms such as cinema. It is important to remember, however, that new media is not the only precursor for change in the industry. A brief look will reveal that a gradual change has been happening since the conception of cinema. It could be suggested that its the speed of change that new media brings that is more vital, compared to the fact that it brings change at all. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Manovich L | 2002 | The Language of New Media (MIT Press)