Fast Forward: The Future(s) of the Cinematic Arts

by Holly Willis

Cinema, the primary vehicle for storytelling in the twentieth century, is being reconfigured by new media in the twenty-first. Terms such as "worldbuilding," "virtual reality," and "transmedia" introduce new methods for constructing a screenplay and experiencing and sharing a story. Similarly, 3D cinematography, hypercinema, and visual effects require different modes for composing an image, and virtual technology, motion capture, and previsualization completely rearrange the traditional flow of cinematic production. What does this mean for telling stories? "Fast Forward" answers this question by investigating a full range of contemporary creative practices dedicated to the future of mediated storytelling and by connecting with a new generation of filmmakers, screenwriters, technologists, media artists, and designers to discover how they work now, and toward what end. From Chris Milk and Aaron Koblin's exploration of VR spherical filmmaking to the live cinema work of Cloud Eye Control and the urban screens of Doug Aitken, this volume captures a moment of creative evolution and sets the stage for imagining the future of the cinematic arts.

224 pages, Paperback

Published August 16, 2016

About the author

Holly Willis is a Professor in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, where she also serves as the Chair of the Media Arts + Practice Division. She is a co-founder of Filmmaker Magazine, dedicated to independent film, and was the editor of RES magazine and co-curator of RESFEST for several years. She writes frequently about experimental film, video and new media.

Reviews

[Steen Ledet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent study of how post-cinema bleeds between cinema, new media, and digital culture.

[Mills College Library]

777 W7346 2016