| I propose the camera as camera, a conceptual opening in which we can observe that computer graphics imagery (CGI) grants every calculable point in space both voice and agency. Thus, by definition, digital interactive spaces fundamentally engender new virtual subjectivities which operate in interconnection with one another, and not as autonomous, privileged subjects. This necessarily suggests that in interactive conditions we require a re-writing of power relations; the camera as camera argument provides a foundation for a technical and aesthetic reconsideration of these matters.; Tracing a connection between the early development of shutter technology by Muybridge, and the "bullet-time" of the Matrix films, I examine special effects in such films as Moulin Rouge, Lord of the Rings, Batman Begins and King Kong. I demonstrate that the "camera" of the past is now digitally re-framed as a locus of many elements, all occupying one tiny point in space simultaneously. The tropes which are characteristic of the camera as camera include: (1) techniques such as 3D visualizations, motion control, motion capture, and multi-layered compositing, (2) physics-defying fly-throughs and a daring, dynamic camera, (3) roller coaster effects and a theme park aesthetic, (4) the treatment of actors as avatars and avatars as actors, (5) subjective status conferred to objects and/or amorphous multiplicities such that they take on a narrative aspect equivalent to being a character, (6) the development of an intensely detailed alternate universe which mimics the notion of a 'virtual reality' and (7) a playful re-mix of elements and perspectives. Through these and other digitally enabled devices, the new camera as camera subject is an agent which authors a new reality for us. That reality may exist on a computer monitor, a movie screen, or in the living room of the viewer, and it may even exist off screen as the interpenetration of the virtual and the real becomes increasingly difficult to separate. I suggest that an aesthetics of play and empathy helps us to understand new directions in virtual productions. References include Donna Haraway's "situated knowledges", Andre Bazin, Lev Manovich, and Varela, Thompson and Rosch's book, The Embodied Mind. |
