From: Brook Hinton (email suppressed)
Date: Wed Jul 22 2009 - 21:48:24 PDT
Howdy Frameworkers.
I'm thinking about this whole question of online viewing vs. dvds for
submissions, not so much for festivals who will obviously determine
what works for their process, but curators, venues, etc.
Here's my particular bias, and I wonder where others stand on this now:
First, I hate dvds. Hate them. Sometimes, though not usually, more
than VHS. Even for previewing work that is video to begin with. So
much that I prefer seeing other people's work in some other way
whenever possible, and that I am loathe to send them out myself. But
until recently I was reconciled to this plastic disposable glitchy
unreliable motion destroying landfill fodder as a necessary evil.
In the last few months, I have come to feel that - with the exception
of work that is dependent on an interlaced display for whatever reason
- a well encoded h.264 standard def file at a DSL data rate is so
close to (and at higher rates better than) "dvd quality" that it seems
just silly to automatically send out screeners on DVDs, the majority
of which will be thrown away. h.264 is now viewable on 90% of
computers since it is supported by both flash and quicktime. And
frankly, unless I'm watching a piece of interlace-dependent video art
or have access to a very high quality large calibrated broadcast
monitor, I find most laptop screens - while technically lacking - more
conducive to a cinematic viewing experience.
I have a couple of curatorial projects coming up and I know I'm going
to strongly encourage that people who can set up previews of their
work for me to see online rather than sending screeners. My "cinema
brain" is now activated pretty strongly when clicking on a file on a
computer - far more than it ever was inserting a tape or a dvd (though
still not nearly as much as it is in a dark room full of strangers
with good projection).
How are others feeling about this nowadays? And again, I'm talking
about non-festival submissions - I understand the difficulty in
insisting on online submissions in any open call situation or where
there is no access to broadband.
_______________________________________________________
Brook Hinton
film/video/audio art
www.brookhinton.com
studio vlog/blog: www.brookhinton.com/temporalab
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For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.