Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Ackowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Video Surveillance versus the Affected Personal Cam
- 2 Post-Panopticism and the Attention Economy
- 3 From Cinematographic to Cinematic Apparatus
- 4 Cinematic Chronotopes : The Temporality of the Cinematic Mode of Existence of the Webcams
- 5 Webcams and the Archive
- 6 Appropriating the Cinematic Apparatus
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- List of Images
- Index of Authors
- Index of Makers
- Index of Subjects / Artworks
- Film Culture in Transition
1 - Video Surveillance versus the Affected Personal Cam
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 December 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Ackowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Video Surveillance versus the Affected Personal Cam
- 2 Post-Panopticism and the Attention Economy
- 3 From Cinematographic to Cinematic Apparatus
- 4 Cinematic Chronotopes : The Temporality of the Cinematic Mode of Existence of the Webcams
- 5 Webcams and the Archive
- 6 Appropriating the Cinematic Apparatus
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- List of Images
- Index of Authors
- Index of Makers
- Index of Subjects / Artworks
- Film Culture in Transition
Summary
Abstract
I differentiate between types of surveillance cameras and the degree to which they generate and convey affect. Their owners have instilled qualities upon them by placing them in domestic environments and thus an affective dimension is attached to the image and sound produced by these cameras. This affect is transferred through the production and dissemination process of the imagery, and from the owner to the viewer, the person who is viewed, the appropriating artist, and the public who experience the artworks made with such footage. An affective metalevel pervades all these stages and is inherent in the body of the camera, which extends far beyond the surveillance purposes of these cameras.
Keywords: surveillance, webcam, CCTV, affect
To begin my analysis of the webcam as an emerging cinematic medium, I distinguish between webcams and CCTV. Once this distinction has been established, I examine the relation between owners and cameras to identify the origin of different levels of affect with repercussions on individual behaviour in the public spaces.
Internalizing the Camera
In this first chapter, I take the more personal relation held by many towards cameras as the point of departure, by exploring issues of ownership as well as examining the ways in which an awareness of constant observation affects people in the streets; in other words, the ways in which this awareness influences both behaviour and processes of subjectification. In a world where cameras are ubiquitous, people have grown accustomed to the less-than-invisible presence of these cameras, even when they choose to remain oblivious to the influence they have on their daily routines. The simple presence of this multitude of cameras makes the world cinematic, even if the devices may not be switched on, or connected to a recorder or monitoring facility.
This means that the world is expected to be filmed, regardless of whether that potential ever becomes actualized. As a consequence, the pervasiveness of the cameras has created concerns about issues pertaining to the privacy of the individual. Such issues have preoccupied legislators and philosophers alike, but have also been addressed by artists. Already in 1969, the performance artist Yoko Ono made a film together with her husband entitled Rape, in which she openly criticizes the media's disrespect for personal privacy.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Webcam as an Emerging Cinematic Medium , pp. 29 - 56Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2018