The cinema and television industry went through many transitions during the analogue to digital transformation starting at the end of the 20^th century, especially in production, exhibition, and consumption. In Manovich’s work ‘The Language of New Media’ he coins the term “New Media”  he discusses it commonly referred to as the internet, DVDs, computer games, CD-ROMs, and virtual reality. Manovich instead states New Media identifies as the use of a computer for the distribution and exhibition stage, not the production, therefore websites and eBooks are considered new media as well as photographs on a CD as it requires a computer.

In the 20^th century, television and cinema was the dominant form of media; reflecting cultural sensibilities and shaping them, however, with the emergence of new media, there has been a cultural shift in which most media – production, distribution and communication is carried out through computer-mediated forms.  Now in the 21^st century, newer media is seen as post-cinematic media. So now what is post-cinema – Denson and Leyda describe the term to be the impact of the transformation in cinema. Although neither does post-cinema mean after cinema or new. Instead, it is seen as a collection of media that follows the 20th-century cinematic regime – mourning and paying homage to cinema.

Joseph Kahn’s film “Detention” (2011) was a mashup of genres, throughout the film genre hopped from Slasher horror to science fiction with high school comedy. This film was a collation of pop culture films, referencing the likes of Freaky Friday with the mother-daughter switch, and The Breakfast Club with the Saturday detention. According to Rodowicks theory, the long takes are used to dramatize, an example of a long take from Detention was a scene during the Saturday detention where the camera circles around the students as they stay in the same position but in different clothes when they shift from 2012 to 1992.

References

Manovich, L. 2002, ‘What is New Media’, The Language of New Media, pp.18-61

Shane Denson and Julia Leyda, ‘Perspectives on Post-Cinema: An introduction’, Post-Cinema: Theorising 21^st Century Film, pp. 1-19

Steven Shaviro, ‘Detention’, The Pinocchio Theory [blog]

Detention, 2011, Dir. Joseph Kahn

Marjana Aktar – 33650462