From: Mitsu Hadeishi (email suppressed)
Date: Sun Jul 02 2006 - 08:15:52 PDT
> I don't think video has to have that connotation. People usually refer
> to HD video as HD, which makes people know that it's not low quality
> video. Festivals themselves refer to works they screen which are on
> video. Sundance gives percentages of how many films they screen each
> year which were shot on video. They don't seem to think it's ridiculous
> to call Miranda July's work a video. Because they are not making a
> value judgment of film or video, they are just describing what it is
> they're showing.
Again, you're conflating two things --- obviously people will say something
like "this was shot on film" or "it was shot on HD" but no one says "Miranda
July's video" to refer to her movie. In other words, context makes the use
of the word clear: if you're specifically referring to format, people will
say it was produced with or shot on HD or film, but if you're talking about
the work as a singular noun, you don't say "it's a video" when referring to
HD work.
Nobody at Sundance or Cannes or anywhere else referred to Miranda's movie
as "a video", or any other movie shot on HD as "a video" -- in rare cases
slomeone might say it was presented as an "HD video" but that's it. To call
it a "video" would obviously have confused people, notwithstanding the
protestations of people on this list --- they would have assumed that you
meant it was an SD video. In fact, you can find numerous references to
her "film" --- which is, as should be obvious to anyone paying attention,
common for most other HD features.
I mean, come on --- this is just obvious stuff. How can there be a debate
about what is common usage? Just look out there and read and see.
Google "Miranda July filmmaker". Try to find anybody calling an HD
production "a video" out there in the world --- it just doesn't happen.
Again --- note that I am not making an argument about whether this is good or
bad (though I think it's perfectly fine) --- I am however pointing out the
simple fact that this is how these words are used.
Mitsu
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