See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338019915 Avoiding Surveil and Capture: Modes of Self-Presentation for a New Age of Cinema Preprint · December 2019 CITATIONS READS 0 9 1 author: Jacob Lacuesta San Francisco State University 5 PUBLICATIONS 0 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: The Cinema of You View project All content following this page was uploaded by Jacob Lacuesta on 18 December 2019. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.
Avoiding Surveil and Capture: Modes of Self-Presentation for a New Age of Cinema Jacob Lacuesta FILM-240: Technologies of Identification Dr. Jacob Gaboury December 16, 2019
1 Introduction On November 10, 2019, Disney launched their dedicated streaming platform, Disney+; releasing an extensive curated library built upon the catalogue of a media conglomerate that likely owns more market share than any other company in history. Their entrance into the digital streaming market shook up an already intense war between platforms, provoking a necessity for innovation in order to maintain user retention. This launch should be seen as a catalyst to bring about an increasingly inevitable future of micro-personalized cinema (MPC). There are three manifestations of MPC. Through its first stage comes the automation of navigating through a branching narrative film . The second stage is a transitional stage. Due to the costly nature of producing a branching narrative piece production companies will find ways to produce films at a lower cost and at faster speeds. Solutions could stem from volumetric video recording to the development of wholly realistic celebrities and AI reproduction of sight and soundtrack. With platforms leaning more towards production automation and the ever-increasing speed of processors, this brings us to our third and final stage: the complete algorithmifcation of cinematic production and presentation—cinema that is produced for you, by you, in real-time. In order to make the micro-personalization of cinema possible, a user’s taste profile is required. Data is collected both through the means of a profile developed before streaming begins ( asynchronous ) and affect collection while streaming persists ( synchronous ). These modes of data collection and execution will be discussed further later. The concept of MPC, especially as it is theorized in its latter stages, presents itself as the epitome of post-cinema . Hito Steyerl notes post-cinema as a “stimulus package to buy new
2 televisions, home projector systems, and retina display iPads,” 1 Not only has post-cinema become what was aforementioned, it is also now a stimulus package for buy into various platforms bounded with content exclusivity. Additionally, post-cinema does not concern itself with maintaining a well-rounded plot, it is concerned with maintaining attention. To obtain the attention of the viewer means to pull attention from competing platforms—the ultimate goal of MPC. Continuing and building upon Steyerl, like the internet, MPC will feel rather awkward as it takes inspiration from social networking sites. I see post-cinema’s ultimate form as an endless stream. There will be no beginning and there will be no end. It will be a series of calculated privileged instances. It is simply a channel of noise one logs onto. Think of it as though you are watching an actual Truman Show, except instead of watching a life without post-production, it is Truman embodying the bursts of addictive spontaneity you would find scrolling through Facebook while Meryl displays gadgets you have recently perused on Amazon. Before leaping into this ultimate future, we must take a step back. This paper will first examine Project Blind Eye, an upcoming open-source software and film that provides a tangible object and critiques the initial stage of MPC input and presentation. Following that will be a discussion on the possible series of societal implications of accepting this form of media, examining through both asynchronous and synchronous means of identification. This section will also discuss modes of digital performance in order to protect the self from capture. Finally, though this future seems inevitable, there will be a dive into possibility of preventing this future through an anarchist lens of reference. 1 Steyerl, Hito. “Too Much World: Is the Internet Dead?” e-flux. Accessed December 14, 2019. https://www.e-flux.com/journal/49/60004/too-much-world-is-the-internet-dead/.
3 Blind Eye and Compulsory Identification Project Blind Eye is an application and accompanying film I developed between June and December 2019 under the guidance of Timothy Lenoir — who earlier aided in the development of an initial inquiry on the micro-personalization of cinematic presentation and production 2 3 . Planned to be open source for academics, the project is meant to serve two purposes. First off, the project provides a tangible cultural object to examine and expand theoretical discussion. Secondly, the code is meant to provide a basis for further experimentation on how this streaming format could be made more productive in terms of capture. The film follows Aden; living in the Bay Area and faced with trouble to make ends meet, he resorts to pickpocketing phones from BART 4 commuters along with his friend — Nat. One day, they accidentally steal the phone of a daytime tech executive and nighttime serial killer — Robert. By doing so, our characters are forced into on-running chase mediated by goons and IoT technologies as the phone contained incriminating evidence for Robert’s crimes. While trying to mediate the situation, Robert tries to strike a deal with the Department of Defense for his IoT surveillance systems. In order to make the application work, users are required to go through a lengthy and unconventional process. Upon entering the project’s homepage and watching the ‘onboarding video,’ users are required to visit Watson’s Personality Insights application in order to obtain their OCEAN personality results. To obtain results, either a personal Twitter profile or a lengthy 2 Lacuesta, J., T. Lenoir. 2019. “The Cinema of You: an Initial Inquiry on the Micro- Personalization of Cinematic Production and Presentation”. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.14522.34249 3 Additional guidance in both production and theory was brought in by Branwen Okpako, Patrick LeMieux, and Joshua McCoy. 4 Bay Area Rapid Transit: the metro line connecting San Francisco with surrounding suburban towns.
4 form of personal writing is required to be inputted. Finally, Watson will provide a series of metrics that heavily detail consumer traits. It is the responsibility of the user to scour through these results to find their OCEAN personality — which is not in order and requires mental energy to make it so to match the application’s necessary input. If a certain personality trait is rated to be >50%, the corresponding switch must be turned Figure 1. Watson's Personality Insights with Oprah's Twitter Profile Inputted on. If else, the corresponding switch needs to be left alone. Once this process is complete, it is only then the film could finally be played. This convoluted process was intended. By following the totality of these steps, it displays people’s Figure 2. Screenshot from "Blind Eye." The controls and 'start' button are on the lower-left side. willingness to identify oneself to a system for the purpose of convenience and novelty. There is the assumption that because the film is tailored to the individual personality, it is a presentation format expected to not ‘waste time.’ Additionally, the novelty of experiencing an advertised ‘film of the future’ leaves the idea of repercussion as an afterthought — even after faced with what Watson has collected beyond OCEAN just from a few tweets or a paragraph. This brings us to the topic of compulsory identification. It is the idea that conducting self- identification to a system will provide an overall higher quality of digital livelihood. The falsehood of providing your identity solely for the basis of obtaining a personalized cinematic
Recommend
More recommend
