Multimedia art

Author: Gu Shiyu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-02-01
Features: The purpose of this book is to comprehensively reveal the trajectory of motion pictures and television, incorporating all factors that may influence future development into its scope for discussion. It aims to accurately portray the survival status of film and television art in the near future. Specifically, the book closely observes the changes occurring in the material entities of film and television while exploring the revolutionary impact of these changes on the art and theory of film and television. On this basis, it constructs a theoretical framework adaptable to the new norms of the information society.
After undergoing digital gene replacement, film and television will experience qualitative leaps in both performance and functionality, transcending traditional survival models to present a completely new and unfamiliar state. We can refer to this new ecological state, distinct from traditional film and television, as "post-film and television." Structurally, the book first focuses on practical aspects before moving to more abstract discussions. It begins by examining how film and television evolve in the material carrier during the information age and then explores how the changes in the material entities of film and television trigger a paradigm shift in film and television art theory.
Specifically, the book is divided into two parts: the first provides a broad overview of how the universal multimedia platform of the information society forms, while the second focuses on the construction of multimedia art theory. The first part briefly introduces some basic knowledge of IT, with a focus on computers and the internet, providing the necessary groundwork for later discussions on the informatization of film and television. The second chapter comprehensively discusses how television transitions toward informatization, which is a key focus of the book and thus occupies a larger portion of the text. The third chapter outlines the informatization of film from both software creation (commonly referred to as "computer-generated effects") and hardware production (i.e., "digitalization" in filmmaking). IT's penetration into these two aspects has significantly altered the survival status of film.
The fourth chapter steps outside the realm of film and television, introducing the concept of "triple-network convergence" from the perspective of the film and television ecological environment, ultimately leading to the idea of a universal multimedia platform. The fifth chapter serves as a transition from the tangible to the intangible, introducing the concept of "paradigm shift" to explain that the transformation of film and television entities inevitably leads to their evolution into universal multimedia platforms. At the level of art theory, we must also transcend film and television, starting from the ontology of the image, expanding our perspective, and conducting comprehensive reflections within the broader context of human civilization's development history. This allows us to re-examine the entire art form with new concepts, thereby establishing an image ontology theory that meets the needs of the information age.
The seventh chapter examines traditional art from the perspective of visual art, noting that the three ancient arts discussed each possess unique and enduring aesthetic charm. The book evaluates them from the viewpoint of audiovisual narrative art, not to diminish their value, but simply to adopt a different perspective. Chapters eight and nine provide detailed analyses of modern film and television from the perspective of visual art theory. Building on this foundation, the tenth chapter summarizes the commonalities and differences of theater, film, and television, ultimately proposing the concept of "multimedia art." The introduction of multimedia art theory is not only aimed at organizing the past but also at grasping the future and adapting to the needs of the information age. After reading it, readers will find that the concept of multimedia art is highly scientific, reasonable, and necessary.