More Than Meets the Eye

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bob Rehak
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Visual Effects ◽  
Special Effects ◽  
Feature Film ◽  
Star Wars ◽  
High Profile ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Narrative Worlds ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

Today’s franchises of fantastic media depend on visual effects for their existence, not just in their local textual homes (a feature film, a TV episode, a videogame) but across multiple screens and platforms, working transmedially to build ongoing storyworlds, imbue bodies with evidence of life, and ultimately to travel freely as spectacular subgenres in themselves. In this book’s four case studies, major fantastic franchises of the last half century—Star Trek, Star Wars, the Middle Earth films, and The Matrix—reveal themselves as busy sites of negotiation between the late analog era of the 1960s and 1970s and the digital blockbuster era that followed. Arguing that this colonization took place largely in and through the visual effects design and engineering of high-profile media properties, the chapters explore television series art direction and its relationship to an amateur “blueprint culture,” documenting the contents of media’s imaginary worlds; the previsualization practices through which visual effects rebrand complex webs of creative contributions under the sign of the techno-auteur; the animation traditions that bring special-effects-assisted performances to life; and the role of special effects in larger circuits of visual culture. Approaching special effects both as specific technological practices and discursive performances of behind-the-scenes labor, More Than Meets the Eye plumbs the analog roots of contemporary transmedia franchises to find the unexpected behaviors and impacts of special effects that hide in plain sight, constructing perceptions of narrative worlds and characters as on another level they construct our collective ways of imagining franchise cinema, digital media, and technological change.

A new matrix for building platform portfolios: how companies can sustain their leadership

2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Hensmans
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Original Matrix ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Market Growth ◽  
Corporate Managers ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Successful Execution ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

Purpose An essential corporate decision-making tool, the Boston Consulting Group's growth-share matrix, is due for an upgrade. The purpose of this paper is to upgrade this growth matrix for use by corporate managers in the current platform age. Designed in the conglomerate age of the 1960s and 1970s to help corporate managers make disciplined and systematic portfolio investment decisions, the matrix is ill-adapted to the platform age in which we now live. The most valuable companies in the world are now platform companies, and many companies are transitioning to a more platform-based corporate portfolio. In this paper, the author explains how corporate managers can build and execute a sustainable platform portfolio. Design/methodology/approach The author started with a thorough study of the contextual assumptions and theoretical background of the original Boston Consulting Group growth-share matrix (which the author has been teaching for the past decade). He contrasted these with the assumptions and theoretical background developed in the platform strategy literature. To test and refine the framework, the author presented and discussed its applicability at companies such as GSK and with local consultants. He then used five consecutive cohorts of master students [280 students (70 groups)] to test this framework on a total of 20 companies (both “born platform” and “product to platform” companies). Findings The platform ecosystem age requires a corporate decision-making matrix that discriminates between businesses on the basis of platform market growth and platform commercialization capability, rather than product market growth and market share. As in the original matrix, these businesses correspond to three different investment horizons (Figure 1): the continuous renewal of blockbuster business, the integration of emerging killer businesses and the experimentation with joint innovation businesses. This paper helps corporate managers build and execute a sustainable platform portfolio by means of a sequence of six decision-making steps and a clear organizational template for successful execution. Originality/value The portfolio matrix, decision-making sequence and organizational execution advice presented in this paper are fit for both “born platform” companies such as Google (Alphabet) and “product to platform” hybrids such as Lego. The paper illustrates this with practical examples for both types of companies.

Samurai Kabuki

2020 ◽  
pp. 281-286
Author(s):  
Jonathan R. Eller
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Late Life ◽  
Time Travel ◽  
Film Adaptation ◽  
Honorary Degree ◽  
Special Effects ◽  
Feature Film ◽  
John Huston ◽  
The University

The ghosts that Bradbury had carried since his challenging time in early 1950s Ireland with John Huston were finally laid to rest when Bradbury received an honorary degree from the University of Ireland, Galway, home to the Huston School of Film and Digital Media. Chapter 41 also describes the film adaptation of A Sound of Thunder (2005) and the need to extend this time travel story into a feature film requiring more special effects than the production could afford. In spite of excellent casting and strong performances, the film fell short of the mark for critics and audiences. The chapter also describes Bradbury’s late-life reflections on Japanese and Chinese culture and his attempts to have Samurai Kabuki produced as a film.

From the Avant-Garde: Re-Conceptualizing Cultural Origins in the Digital Media Art of Japan

Leonardo ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 142-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean M. Ippolito
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Process Performance ◽  
Media Art ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
Inherent Nature ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Cultural Origins

Misconceptions concerning digital artists in Japan make them out to be mere followers, savvy with technology but not necessarily the conceptual originators of their work. Examining the aesthetic and philosophical content of their work, however, reveals that their attitudes toward the exploration of process, performance and the inherent nature of materials come from innovative and daring avant-garde groups of the 1960s and 1970s in Japan, including the Gutai and Mono-ha groups, whose ideas predate those of the New York avant-garde schools, even outside of the technological milieu.

scholarly journals Conclusion: Engineering Movies

2021 ◽  
pp. 171-180
Author(s):  
Jordan Gowanlock
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Media Production ◽  
Film Production ◽  
Water Tank ◽  
Visual Effects ◽  
Special Effects ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Production Practices

AbstractThe conclusion to Animating Unpredictable Effects argues for the importance of understanding engineering and R&D as a part of animation and visual effects production, in opposition to critics who dismiss these as mere tools for hyperrealism. This provides for a better understanding of a diverse range of contemporary digital media production practices that involve extensive technical work, but it also sheds light on film production practices going back a century. Using the example of practical special effects, like puffs of smoke or splashing waves in a studio water tank, which create unpredictable motion under artificial conditions, the conclusion draws a long history of practices that represent the world by making artificial mechanisms rather than capturing or drawing images.

Improving x-ray map resolution with image restoration techniques

1996 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 598-599
Author(s):  
Richard B. Mott ◽  
John J. Friel ◽  
Charles G. Waldman
Keyword(s):  
Image Restoration ◽  
Hubble Space Telescope ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Small Object ◽  
X Rays ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Mapping Parameters ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Map Resolution

X-rays are emitted from a relatively large volume in bulk samples, limiting the smallest features which are visible in X-ray maps. Beam spreading also hampers attempts to make geometric measurements of features based on their boundaries in X-ray maps. This has prompted recent interest in using low voltages, and consequently mapping L or M lines, in order to minimize the blurring of the maps.An alternative strategy draws on the extensive work in image restoration (deblurring) developed in space science and astronomy since the 1960s. A recent example is the restoration of images from the Hubble Space Telescope prior to its new optics. Extensive literature exists on the theory of image restoration. The simplest case and its correspondence with X-ray mapping parameters is shown in Figures 1 and 2.Using pixels much smaller than the X-ray volume, a small object of differing composition from the matrix generates a broad, low response. This shape corresponds to the point spread function (PSF). The observed X-ray map can be modeled as an “ideal” map, with an X-ray volume of zero, convolved with the PSF. Figure 2a shows the 1-dimensional case of a line profile across a thin layer. Figure 2b shows an idealized noise-free profile which is then convolved with the PSF to give the blurred profile of Figure 2c.

Ken Russell's Wartime Imagery

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 539-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin M. Flanagan
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
War Films ◽  
Personal Style ◽  
American Cinema ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Second World ◽  
Wartime Experience ◽  
National Experience

This article traces Ken Russell's explorations of war and wartime experience over the course of his career. In particular, it argues that Russell's scattered attempts at coming to terms with war, the rise of fascism and memorialisation are best understood in terms of a combination of Russell's own tastes and personal style, wider stylistic and thematic trends in Euro-American cinema during the 1960s and 1970s, and discourses of collective national experience. In addition to identifying Russell's recurrent techniques, this article focuses on how the residual impacts of the First and Second World Wars appear in his favoured genres: literary adaptations and composer biopics. Although the article looks for patterns and similarities in Russell's war output, it differentiates between his First and Second World War films by indicating how he engages with, and temporarily inhabits, the stylistic regime of the enemy within the latter group.

Mind Bending, Mental Seduction and Menticide: Brainwashing in British Spy Dramas of the 1960s

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Burton
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Thought Control ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Scientific Background ◽  
Mind Control ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Cultural Fantasy

Brainwashing assumed the proportions of a cultural fantasy during the Cold War period. The article examines the various political, scientific and cultural contexts of brainwashing, and proceeds to a consideration of the place of mind control in British spy dramas made for cinema and television in the 1960s and 1970s. Particular attention is given to the films The Mind Benders (1963) and The Ipcress File (1965), and to the television dramas Man in a Suitcase (1967–8), The Prisoner (1967–8) and Callan (1967–81), which gave expression to the anxieties surrounding thought-control. Attention is given to the scientific background to the representations of brainwashing, and the significance of spy scandals, treasons and treacheries as a distinct context to the appearance of brainwashing on British screens.

The ‘Modernisation’ of Scotland and its Impact on Glasgow, 1955–1979: ‘Unwanted Side Effects’ and Vulnerabilities

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 294-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chik Collins ◽  
Ian Levitt
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Regional Policy ◽  
Excess Mortality ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Uk Government ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Impact

This article reports findings of research into the far-reaching plan to ‘modernise’ the Scottish economy, which emerged from the mid-late 1950s and was formally adopted by government in the early 1960s. It shows the growing awareness amongst policy-makers from the mid-1960s as to the profoundly deleterious effects the implementation of the plan was having on Glasgow. By 1971 these effects were understood to be substantial with likely severe consequences for the future. Nonetheless, there was no proportionate adjustment to the regional policy which was creating these understood ‘unwanted’ outcomes, even when such was proposed by the Secretary of State for Scotland. After presenting these findings, the paper offers some consideration as to their relevance to the task of accounting for Glasgow's ‘excess mortality’. It is suggested that regional policy can be seen to have contributed to the accumulation of ‘vulnerabilities’, particularly in Glasgow but also more widely in Scotland, during the 1960s and 1970s, and that the impact of the post-1979 UK government policy agenda on these vulnerabilities is likely to have been salient in the increase in ‘excess mortality’ evident in subsequent years.

The Fragmentation of the Palestinian Political Field

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 189-216
Author(s):  
Jamil Hilal
Keyword(s):  
Women Workers ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Field ◽  
Cultural Field ◽  
National Representation ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Palestinian National Movement ◽  
The Relationship

The mid-1960s saw the beginnings of the construction of a Palestinian political field after it collapsed in 1948, when, with the British government’s support of the Zionist movement, which succeeded in establishing the state of Israel, the Palestinian national movement was crushed. This article focuses mainly on the Palestinian political field as it developed in the 1960s and 1970s, the beginnings of its fragmentation in the 1990s, and its almost complete collapse in the first decade of this century. It was developed on a structure characterized by the dominance of a center where the political leadership functioned. The center, however, was established outside historic Palestine. This paper examines the components and dynamics of the relationship between the center and the peripheries, and the causes of the decline of this center and its eventual disappearance, leaving the constituents of the Palestinian people under local political leadership following the collapse of the national representation institutions, that is, the political, organizational, military, cultural institutions and sectorial organizations (women, workers, students, etc.) that made up the PLO and its frameworks. The paper suggests that the decline of the political field as a national field does not mean the disintegration of the cultural field. There are, in fact, indications that the cultural field has a new vitality that deserves much more attention than it is currently assigned.

Book Reviews

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 88-107
Author(s):  
Louise K. Davidson-Schmich ◽  
Jennifer A. Yoder ◽  
Friederike Eigler ◽  
Joyce M. Mushaben ◽  
Alexandra Schwell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Print Media ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
The West ◽  
Politics Of Memory ◽  
German State ◽  
East German ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

Konrad H. Jarausch, United Germany: Debating Processes and Prospects Reviewed by Louise K. Davidson-Schmich Nick Hodgin and Caroline Pearce, ed. The GDR Remembered:Representations of the East German State since 1989 Reviewed by Jennifer A. Yoder Andrew Demshuk, The Lost German East: Forced Migration and the Politics of Memory, 1945-1970 Reviewed by Friederike Eigler Peter H. Merkl, Small Town & Village in Bavaria: The Passing of a Way of Life Reviewed by Joyce M. Mushaben Barbara Thériault, The Cop and the Sociologist. Investigating Diversity in German Police Forces Reviewed by Alexandra Schwell Clare Bielby, Violent Women in Print: Representations in the West German Print Media of the 1960s and 1970s Reviewed by Katharina Karcher Michael David-Fox, Peter Holquist, and Alexander M. Martin, ed., Fascination and Enmity: Russia and Germany as Entangled Histories, 1914-1945 Reviewed by Jennifer A. Yoder

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