Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Multi-screen Cinema
I think that multi-screen cinema is an interesting concept but very impractical. Cinema as a medium doesn't require a second screen, so the first question is what would be displayed? Video games use multiple screens to display the world surrounding their character, to expand their point of view for strategical and aesthetic purposes. Cinema would have to display something in order to keep the story moving forward but without splitting the viewer's attention too thin. To me, the idea of using multiple screens in cinema is just incredibly impractical and all it well end up doing is divide the attention of the audience to the point where they receive less information rather than more of it. The only way I can see multiple screens being useful is during dialogue scenes, you can listen to the person speak but also read the faces of the other characters throughout the whole conversation rather than cut to a reaction shot. I don't believe multiple screens should be the future of cinema, it would dumb down the experience, diving people's attention and make it harder to follow a narrative.
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Multi-screen cinema is neither practical, nor even a good idea. Splitting the viewers attention will allow them to get the full impact of neither screen. This experience is practiced by nearly everyone in every livingroom in this country at night while watching television and- from personal experience- I can say that it never ends up going well. Neither screen ends up being focused on enough to be remembered, let alone enriched. By a filmmaker using two screens they are essentially saying that these are both equally important, and at the same time, one of these is not important to fill or demand your entire attention. The best filmmakers have found a way to fully immerse us in the stories they are telling for over a hundred years now and if a second screen is needed for future filmmakers to do so, perhaps it is a sign that they lack the talent to draw us in enough with the tools already at hand.
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