How did emerging media formats mobilize the production of specific categories of non-fiction, such as ethnographic film and propaganda?

Assignment Question

Course name: Nontheatrical Formats & Operations. 35mm, VHS, and smartphone digital video—each format presents its own advantages to production, aesthetic specificity, as well as exhibition and circulation.

This course shifts methodological attention toward the technological particularities of audiovisual formats. How did emerging media formats mobilize the production of specific categories of non-fiction, such as ethnographic film and propaganda?

This course covers the major texts in recent debates surrounding “format” in nontheatrical film and media studies.

Learn theoretical frameworks and examine historical literature and primary texts illustrative of three distinct “formats”: 16mm film, VHS video, and codecs for digital compression. The focus of this class is non-fiction, nontheatrical film and media.

Accordingly, questions regarding the format of a particular example of film or media will be considered alongside their “use,” “utility,” or “operation” by studying aspects of distribution, exhibition, and material circulation. Students will produce written formal, historical, or theoretical analyses of film and media texts that consider the history of nontheatrical film and media in relation to the specificity of technological format.

Here is the writing requirement:

With the development of computer graphic technology, humans invented a new medium – 3D animation, followed by the emergence of VR, AR, and other new formats. Discuss the advantages, disadvantages, and applications of 3D animation, VR, and AR in the context of Non-Theatrical.

Each theme of the course includes: VHS, Media Formats as Political Technology, The Poor Image Reconsidered, Appropriating Formats, Education and Portability, Ethnography, 16mm & 35mm film, Formats.

Select several themes and establish connections and relationships with 3D animation, VR, or AR. Make sure to relate them to the content of the readings, delve into these themes, explore the connections between 3D animation, VR, AR, and the selected themes, such as historical connections, functional connections, philosophical connections, and more.

Also, feel free to express some novel and interesting viewpoints, such as imagining how these technologies might develop in the future and what impact they might have on our world in the context of Non-Theatrical. You can create your own title other than “Computer graphic and Non fiction” based on your content.