Week 8

This week in the lecture we talked about post-digital. Post-digital is the movement where some people are specifically going backwards in technology for a particular aesthetic, function or preference despite there being an obviously more advanced, more “digital” version. For example, using filters on social media apps that make photos look grainy and worn, as if they were taken by an older camera. Or how some people prefer to use typewriters instead of a modern computer. The return to print in design is another example of post-digital media, more and more people are purposefully going backwards in the tech timeline in order to achieve an authentic aesthetic.

Some specific examples I can think of are movies that still use film instead of digital cameras, and how polaroid cameras are popular once again. Lincon Spector runs the Bayflicks Blog, which covers films and movies in the San Francisco Bay area ran a short survey on the films shown and how many used film, digital or both in 2017. Out of the 26 films he could find information on, 3 of them (Call Me By Your Name, Phantom Thread and The Other Side of Hope) were shot entirely on film. 5 used both, 8 he couldn’t find solid information on and the remaining 15 were shot digitally. There are some technical reasons for movies to be shot on film, but f the entire movie is done on film it is because the creators were going for a unique aesthetic that only film could provide.

Polaroid cameras are another example of the post-digital movement. This can be explained very easily with the nostalgia wave, which also explains the return of synthesizers in music, the rising popularity of vinyl records and the huge popularity of Stranger Things. Polaroid cameras have an instant, nostalgic aesthetic due to the type of film and technology inside them. Re-creating old photos is a trend that emphasises this aesthetic choice and sums up the reason for why there is a post-digital movement at all.

The picture on the left was taken 50 years before the one on the right, and you can see it in its ware, the folds and the small burn mark. The one on the right is objectively better quality, its clearer, the colours are more accurate to the real world and its less blurry. However the polaroid has a charm and a vibe of sorts that make it a much more interesting and pleasing image to look at.

Another example of people tending to like old-looking pictures is a YouTube video of someone who bought a 100 year old lens from the internet, attached it to a modern day camera and filmed just a normal day at a zoo. Uploaded on the 23^rd of July 2019 by Mathieu Stern, the video, even though its less than five minutes long has (to this day, the 20^th of October 2019) over 1,550,000 views on YouTube. The video is really beautiful and is astoundingly clear and smooth. Some comments left on the video highlight the feeling of it as well as the post-digital movement.

mrodddrums– “Wow, it feels so… Nostalgic? Cause it kinda soften the light brightness, so cool”

OwenStew 02– “I’m not a camera guy, but there’s something about this lens that makes everything look and feel old and “fluffy” “

Chris– “hd is overrated. everything seems more relatable in this lens”

J.Barry– “How to achieve this look in adobe premiere? The bloom and contrast are very appealing..”

It’s really worth watching the video, because it demonstrates the point of the post-digital movement, im looking forward to seeing if maybe the highest quality of cameras and camera lenses will be saved for things like documentation, whereas people may start to choose “lower quality” to preserve personal memories and art projects.

Refrences:

Movies on film:

How Many Films are Still Shot on Film: The 2017 Edition