Is union the future of cinematography and photography?
Back in 1839 Louis Daguerre brought photography to the world with his dream of capturing fragments of time caught and held on the surface of silver plated copper. His invention changed the way we perceive ourselves and the world we live in by recording reality in perpetuity in the shape of a Daguerreotype.
Just over fifty years later in 1895, the brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière presented the concept of moving images to the world. In the short period of time between these two world-shattering inventions a seemingly endless number of permutations ensued, some better, some not so much so.
In 2008, just a little over a century later, Nikon announced the D90, the first still and video capable DSLR. The D90 itself, whilst revolutionary in design and capability, now pales in comparison to what is available just over a half a decade later. Arguably, this small, mostly unnoticed invention has had an equal impact on the history of filmaking, as much of an impact as its predecesors the Daguerreotype and the film camera had in the very beginnings of the photographic process .
Jump forward to 2014 and the DSLR represents the first time theses divergent streams of cinematography and photography have come together as partners. In a sense, this change or meeting of minds was over one hundred and fifty years in the coming.
The DSLR offers still photographers who have dreamt in motion and cinematographers who have yearned for the quality of the still image, the opportunity to explore and expand their creative expression with one single tool.
Today’s new content creators are no longer hindered by the decision…still or motion…the seamless integration of these two divergent, yet inexorably linked skillsets has move beyond the decision to pursue one or the other, they are as one! Bundled and presented in a neat affordablePackage, the modern DSLR.
The decision to link this emerging technology to the newly minted Digital Video Fusion Production program at the Centre for Arts and Technology was based on this synthesis of function. This enabling technology represents a watershed moment in the history of content creation, a coming together of minds and talent unhindered by the decision to choose either still or motion.