Remediation from Bolter and Grusin

Remediation is a term used from the work of both Bolter and Grusin. Remediation is the term given to the representation of one medium in another. They describe that how new mediums often use remediation from their predecessors.

The article shows a spectrum as to how new media 'remediates' old media.

Immediacy is a type of media that aspires to create a type of transparency over the viewers eyes. The aim for this type is to make the viewer 'forget' that they are indeed watching a film by using such immersion techniques. Using virtual reality throughout the media confuses the viewers mind as to thinking if the things they are seeing are in fact real, and during the watching is can be hard to pull the person away from such immersion. Using photo realistic images also has the same effect and are another technique used.

Hypermediacy are objects or artifacts that are aware of their existence and want to display the way they fit into the world and not be blurred into the image. Examples of this would be the WWW or video game HUD's.

An example here of remediation is that of photo realism. Photo realism uses aesthetic conventions which is of its predecessor 'photography' however it is not actually its replacement as they both have their advantages and disadvantages.

Another example of remediation is the of the perspective of 3d shapes on a flat surface. This feature dominates contemporary computer games and were first worked out, pioneered and explored during the renaissance. Since then many media have used the same techniques as the conventions of perspective within are now standardised. Technology that is considered fairly new would be the invention of the wide screen television, however this size and aspiration was explored by 17th century artists such as Van Gogh. Van Gogh was an artist known for his odd and experimental perspective, he was a pioneer of cubism which affected his aspects of artwork. One of his main objects of study was large open landscapes, using thousands of tiny purposeful strokes he practically developed landscapes and wide canvases into being within the art industry.

Conventions of a media are usually successful remediation's of a previous medium. It would take time for a new medium to produce its own unique convention, but this would just simply be remediated by another media in the future. A phrase known as survival of the fittest comes to mind at this point. The remediation is similar to the theory of evolution by Charles Darwin. Remediation is a constant development process for media.

From this read, it has brought to my attention how common practise it is for new mediums to 'use' conventions of similar alternative mediums to gain an advantage with the development process. I see this now in computer games more than any other media. The use of conventions from storytelling, film and moral human interaction.