Remediation

Remediation: Games

 

In today's lecture we stared looking at remediation, looking at the definition and also the way it is used in today's society and finally looking at remediation in films and games.

Matteo Bittani, (2003), The Technoludic Cinema: Images of Video Games in Movies (1973-2001).
Jay Bolter & Richard Grusin (2000), Remediation: Understanding New Media, MIT Press.

 

To sum up the definition of remediation, it is to use one form of media for another purpose and that remediation is the defining characteristic created from that new purpose.

 

 

Forms of Remediation:

 

Immediacy - The aim to make a viewer be wholly drawn into the experience making them forget seeing or watching. Examples could be immersive virtual reality or photo realistic images.

 

Hypermediacy - Items/media that purposely calls attention to their own constructed nature all the time. Examples of this could be video game HUD's and the WWW.

 

 

Examples would include:

• Photo realistic paintings similar to photography.
• Forms of the WWW are commonly used on TV and TV advertising used on the Internet.
• 3D imaging on flat surfaces is now used on TV's and computer consoles but originated from a painting in 1430.
• Wide screens used in technology were originally used in landscape paintings.

Why Remediation is Used:

 

There are multiple reasons. It can take a long time for a new medium to develop new forms of content.

 

Another reason would be to improve upon an existing media, an example of which could again be computer games. They stared out as 2D pixels on a screen but have since become 3D and more photo realistic. Companies are still taking computer games further and further until the point in which a new form of media is created in which video games can be played.

 

If a form of media is successful it is more likely to be remediated, computer games had the intention to become 3D from the start. Also variety TV programmes took the successful idea from radio which in turn had originally started out from music halls.

 

 

Technoludic Films:

 

Technoludic films are a combination of Technology and Ludus (Latin for Play).

 

Technoludic Film as Commentary - Video games are subordinated to the film. Example movies would be 'The Lawnmower Man' (1991), 'Existenz' (1999), 'The Matrix Triology' (1999ff).

 

Technoludic Film as Quotation - Games appear in the film for illustrative purposes. They are not central to the theme of the film but form part of the fictional world the film is trying to create. Example movies would be 'Blade Runner' (1982), 'Clockers' (1997), 'Inception' (2010).

 

Technoludic Films as Remediation (1) Adaption - Films using a direct adaption of games as a source of text for the film. Example movies would be 'Super Mario Brothers' (1993), 'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider' (2001), 'Dead or Alive' (2006).

 

Technoludic Films as Remediation (2) Incorporation - Films that incorporate the narratives and/or style traditionally found within computer games. Example movies would be 'Groundhog Day' (1993), 'Toy Story' (1995), 'Run Lola Run' (1998).