Volumetric Display

Volumetric display describes a process to show media in true 3-D, as opposed to the illusion of 3-D made from stereoscopic images using special glasses or other methods. Originally only dreamed of in science fiction, volumetric display is now a format still in early stages of development. There are several methods to achieve a true 3-D effect, but they have not yet reached the consumer market.

This is a rising form of media and it will be interesting to see where the future will take it.

The Return of the 3D Crystal Ball 

Viral Video

With the proliferation of the Internet and video-sharing websites like YouTube, a new form of motion picture entertainment has emerged. Known as viral video, these clips are contagiously spread by word of mouth, much like a viral outbreak is spread by sneezing. Viral videos are typically humorous, generally don’t advertise anything and are shared between friends and family. Popular examples from YouTube include the Star Wars kid, Numa Numa, and Chocolate Rain.

Starwars kid reference 900 million views MSNBC TV
 

3-D Film

3-D film describes a technique to incorporate a third dimension of depth to motion pictures. This method was based upon stereoscopic photography and involves using a special motion picture camera system that films a subject from two perspectives at once. In May of 1953, Technicolor unveiled their first stereoscopic motion picture camera. Technicolor’s system was basically a pairing of two standard three-strip Technicolor video cameras running a total of six strips of film to achieve the illusion of depth. Unfortunately this form of entertainment was met with little success and only two films were made with Technicolor’s 3-D camera (Flight to Tangier and Money From Home).

The 3-D format later enjoyed a global resurgence with the advent of IMAX in the 1980s and 1990s. The 2000’s witnessed the increasing popularity of 3-D films, making way for the unrivaled sensation Avatar presented in 3-D from December 2009 to January 2010.

The making of a 16 mm 3D film 

Digital Cinematography

Digital cinematography (first called ‘electronic cinematography’) was invented by Sony in the late 1980s and enjoyed little success in the beginning. Eventually, studios picked up on the trend after the introduction of the HD video recorders in 1998. These cameras could record images at 1920x1080, which produced a cleaner and higher resolution image than 35mm film. Sony went around showing various TV and movie studios a side-by-side comparison of 35mm film vs. digital HD video, eventually convincing studio heads that digital video was now a viable method. Today, most mainstream Hollywood movies are shot either partially or entirely digital.

Digital Cinematography News, Reviews and Resources 

The 2004 film 'Collateral' was shot entirely using digital cameras. This allowed for better clarity on dark sets and locations.

Dziga Vertov

Dziga Vertov was a revolutionary director and film theorist from the Soviet Union. Dziga made the world's first documentaries, and through a combination of brilliant writing and cinematography he captured the imagination of his generation. Here is a passage from his documentary Kino-Glaz, or Cine-Eye in English, where he describes man's transformation of perspective with the advent of the camera:

Still image from Kino-Glaz

“I'm an eye. A mechanical eye. I, the machine, show you a world the way only I can see it. I free myself for today and forever from human immobility. I'm in constant movement. I approach and pull away from objects. I creep under them. I move alongside a running horse's mouth. I fall and rise with the falling and rising bodies. This is I, the machine, manoeuvring in the chaotic movements, recording one movement

after another in the most complex combinations. Freed from the boundaries of time and space, I coordinate any and all points in the universe, wherever I want them to be. My way leads towards the creation of a fresh perception of the world.

Thus I explain in a new way the world unknown to you.” – Dziga Vertov, 1923


U B U W E B : Dziga Vertov

Eastman Color

The downfall of the Technicolor process ultimately arrived in 1950, when Kodak developed a single-strip color film format called Eastman color. Kodak had earlier introduced a single-strip system known as Kodachrome in 1935, but the quality of the film was not as strong as the more expensive three-strip Technicolor method. Technicolor film also lasted longer in storage.

Eastman color was the first economical color film solution and proved that a higher quality image could be made at lower cost than a three-strip process.

KODAK's Chronology of Motion Picture Films 1940 to 1959

Technicolor

Three-strip Technicolor cameras had to be rented and were very heavy

After Kinemacolor, Technicolor became the most widely used coloring system for motion pictures. When this process was first introduced, it utilized a two-color red and green system. In 1917, the first feature-length Technicolor film, The Gulf Between, was released. In 1929, Technicolor was upgraded to a three-strip process that provided a full range of colors. Technicolor films were expensive to make because they required 3 times the amount of film as a black-and-white production, and the set lighting had to be more intense. During the filming of The Wizard of Oz, the increased lighting heated the film sets to temperatures exceeding 100 °F.

Technicolor's Official Website

Kinemacolor

Kinemacolor, invented by the Englishman George Albert Smith, came about in 1906. This coloring method involved using a special camera that ran at twice the speed of ordinary motion picture cameras of that time. It recorded film at 32 frames per second, half black-and-white and half red-and-cyan. This coloring method was a commercial success from 1908 to 1914.

Kinemacolor: The first successful color system

Pathécolor

In 1905, Pathé Frères introduced the world to stencil-coloring in his film Pathé Color. This was the first financially successful and most accurate attempt at stencil-coloring. Pathé’s method allowed for a maximum of 6 colors per frame. This process involved sectioning pieces of the film into stencils and rolling the film through a coloring machine.

About Pathécolor Films

Anabelle's Dance

Color was originally added to black-and-white film artificially using hand-coloring or stencil-coloring. This was first done in 1895 by Thomas Edison in his hand-colored Anabelle’s Dance, starring Annabelle Whitford Moore.

http://www.archive.org/details/dance1895

A Galloping Horse in Motion

It was once thought that a galloping horse must have at least one hoof on the ground at all times. To disprove this theory, a man named Eadweard Muybridge was hired to photograph a horse in motion. Previous attempts to describe this phenomenon using drawings failed to provide concrete scientific proof, since they were dependent on the artist's way of seeing. In 1878, Muybridge set up 24 cameras along a track in Palo Alto, California to capture the horse's gallop. Eadweard Muybridge earned his indisputable evidence and successfully created the world's first motion picture.

Republic of Images: A History of French Filmmaking