Mapping Moving Media is an inquiry into the specificity of film and video. In this study, I argue that mapping the specificity of these two media is indispensable in analyzing and understanding... Show moreMapping Moving Media is an inquiry into the specificity of film and video. In this study, I argue that mapping the specificity of these two media is indispensable in analyzing and understanding contemporary intermedial objects in which film and video are mixed or combined. Our understanding of the meanings and effects of moving images in contemporary society will increase when combinations of film- and video elements within moving image objects are taken into account. Contemporary (new) media theory offers a wide range of terms by which interrelations between media can be defined and conceptualized. However, although I take the wide variety of notions such as remediation and hypermediacy as helpful tools in analyzing the relationships between media, I argue that the starting point of an investigation into intermedial interactions should be the concept of medium specificity instead of the many notions which define forms of intermediality. This does not mean that we should return to some of essentialist ideas on medium specificity which have been attached to the concept. However, the rightful conclusion that essentialist ideas on medium specificity are rendered untenable by today’s mixed, multi-, and intermedia, too often overshadows the question of what is being mixed, expanded, remediated, refashioned, converged or combined. In this study I ask the questions “what is meant by video?” and “what is meant by film?” How are these two media (to be) understood? Can film and video be defined as distinct, specific media, and if so, how? I hold that in this era of mixed moving media, it is vital to ask these questions precisely and especially on the media of video and film. Show less
