Está en la página 1de 1

Scene 1

With the rise of internet, our society is currently in the middle of a media transition. And as Thorburn & Jenkins put it media transitions give birth to hybrid media. The older media forms evolve to give rise to these hybrid media forms. During this period of constant flux one can observe many interesting hybrid media forms. In the forefront of this media evolution is the entertainment industry.
Scene 2

Scene 4

Nikhil Mohanan

In recent years movies have combined different mediums to create some unique works of art. One movie that stands out as a testament to this is Scott Piligrim vs the World which combined elements of comic books and movies to give the audience a multi-modal experience. Other interesting examples include Wallace & Gromit which employed claymation and Scanner Darkly which visually looked like a graphic novel. However hybrid media is much more pervasive in the entertainment industry than one thinks. The everyday use of green screen in order to digitally add in computer-generated elements can be considered as hybrid media. It is a mix of both digital graphics and live-action filming to add in special effects. Now a common practice in both TV shows and movies green screen technology is now the most pervasive form of hybrid media.
Scene 3 Scene 5

There have also been attempts to combine moving images with media forms such as typography and still photography, which were once associated with print media. A lot of the examples can be seen in music videos which are the hotbed for hybrid media. Artists such as Common, Bad meets Evil and Example have used a mix of these old school media in their music videos to make them visually different.

There also has been a great surge in movies with highly stylized aesthetics, which was previously associated with illustrations. Examples of this include movies like 300, Immortals, Watchmen and Sin City. Movies like this which are digitally enhanced combine different media forms such as live-action cinematography and 3D animation to create a look and feel different from traditional movies. As Manovich puts it, these hybrids are not merely a sum of its parts but have in them intrinsic qualities which previously did not exist. Another point worth noting is that these movies look like more the graphic novels they were adapted from than traditional movies. This is due to the fact that media are centrally imitative as Thorburn & Jenkins puts it. However this imitation does add in a different dimension to these movies which attract both the regular movie goers and the readers of the graphic novels.

A more recent trend is the introduction of user interaction to music. A recent example of this is by the artist Bjrk who released her album also as an iPad application for her listeners to interact with the music. Other artists such as Arcade Fire and Chris Milk have experimented with internet browsers to provide an immersive way to experience music. The band We the Kings even added game play to the music video, incorporating elements from video games and internet all into one fine example of hybrid media. In all of the above cases internet acts much more than a platform, but as a medium which adds additional flavour to the music experience. Also innovative attempts like these provide novelty factor for the audience who constantly consume traditional media. It also boosts fan engagement and provides a great advertising platform for the band itself. With the internet constantly changing, its capabilities as a media form are still being explored; hence we can expect more such innovative attempts in the future. This hybrid revolution came about mainly due to better computing power and better software tools which enabled content creators to combine multiple media elements. While the monetary strength of the entertainment industry placed them in a good position to spearhead this new media revolution. And hence today we have this plethora of hybrid media forms each catered to different audiences. With all media moving towards the hybrid form, the possibilities seem endless...

También podría gustarte