Remediation at Work

Written by Maria Martin-Aran & Laurisa White Reyes VIDEO GAMES:  The text REMEDIATION by Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin refers to early 1st person video games such as Myst, which was ground breaking for its time in that it had realistic graphics and enabled the player to feel as though they were actually moving through the game itself. Of course, all preceding video games attempted immediacy - bringing the player right into the game -but Myst succeeded where the others had all fallen short - to create the illusion of being in the game. Myst was twenty years ago and since then computer graphics have continued to improve to the point that digital graphics, when desired, are almost indistinguishable from live action.  A modern example is the game Bioshock. In this game, the player is the protagonist within the story. (As opposed to third person games where the player simply manipulates a visual representation of the protagonist.) The camera angles are all from the player's point of view, including seeing his own hands and the weapons he is holding.  The game strives for immediacy, however the fantastical nature of the story and the creepy, surreal nature of the images reminds the player that this is indeed a video game, thus keeping it hypermediate.

A better example might be the contemporary war video games such as Modern Warfare where gaming mimics actual battles during World War II and others.  The graphics at times are so real that it the characters might pass for actors in a movie rather than animated figures. These games are perhaps some of the closest examples we have of mediacy in today's world of entertainment.

TWITTER Twitter represents itself to be a "real-time" information network by connecting its members in real time. And in that sense it is in some way attempting mediacy. Yet while true that people are tweeting information "live" as it happens or occurs to them, the limitation of 140 characters, photos or short videos, as well as the vehicle for the information itself (ie. cell phones) makes it impossible to ignore its hypermediate aspects. As such we would argue that Twitter is basically, as the book describes, "narcissistic" in nature purposely bringing attention to its formatting in an attempt to entice usage and win converts. In that manner, it employs celebrities to create accounts and compete for followers to enhance its popularity and desirability. MOVIES (YouTube) YouTube is an excellent example of remediation. It is a digital online vehicle that connects viewers to video clips including movies, tv shows, music, commercials, and more. Anything that has been filmed can be posted to YouTube. It is remediating television, the movie screen, the home video, etc. But even though it is a very visible form of media itself, it strives to be immediate - to bring these video clips directly to the viewer with minimal effort or waiting.

One way it succeeds in achieving mediacy is the option to full screen. In this instance the video fills the complete computer screen and at the same time the You Tube logo and website disappear. It allows the viewer to temporarily forget about You Tube altogether - although he is still very much aware of the film and the computer themselves as forms of media.