Convergence

Technological Convergence The move towards new technological devices being able to do multiple tasks. "the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries, and the migratory behaviour of media audiences." Jenkins Media Convergence Convergence, simply put, is how individual consumers interact with others on a social level and use various media platforms to create new experiences, new forms of media and content that connect us socially, and not just to other consumers, but to the corporate producers of media in ways that have not been as readily accessible in the past. New technologies and the consumer • An improved overall experience as a result of better sound and images reproduction • A heightened emotional experience as a result of a stronger sense of empathy with characters who in some way seem more real • Enhanced spectacle • Improved ease of access • New, easier and intensified ways of using film to pleasure themselves e.g. IMAX • Enhanced intellectual experience • The chance for new, ever cheaper and more compact devices to make films for themselves New technologies and the film industry • The chance to repackage and resell old products, esp cult films, thereby establishing a new audience base for an old product • An opportunity to place products for sale in a new ‘window’ thereby lengthening the commercial life of each film • The chance to encourage multiple purchases of essentially the same product • A means of still managing to make profit on films that initially perform poorly at the box office • New technologies and the cinema experience • New technologies have always added to the cinema experience • The size/quality of the spectacle have been enhanced How important is technological convergence for institutions and audiences within a media area which you have studied? • Production practices which allow texts to be constructed for specific audiences • Distribution and marketing strategies to raise audience awareness of specific products or types of products • The use of new technology to facilitate more accurate targeting of specific audiences • Audience strategies in facilitating or challenging institutional practices. • Convergence • Technological Convergence • One item does many things • Media Convergence • One company makes media product for many things

Slumdog Technology Convergence

"I had to find a camera set up that would be ergonomic enough for me to throw myself around the slums chasing the children whilst, at the same time, withhold as much detail in the shadows and highlights” says Anthony Dod Mantle. Our producer, Chris Colson, had hoped for Danny and Anthony to repeat the efforts on Mini-DV”. This was all well and good, except for the monumental difference between shooting multi camera fiction on sets where I could light, sometimes quite heavily. We needed a digital camera with enough latitude to hold highlights and something very small so we could enter the children’s world at their level. “Slumdog Millionaire” needed a completely different tactical approach.”
They found the right combination in the innovative IT-centric Silicon Imaging SI-2K Digital Cinema camera. It delivered over 11 stops of dynamic range, flexible connectivity and film-like digital content, which could be easily inter-cut with traditional film footage. Unlike modern HD cameras, which develop and compress colorized imagery inside the camera, the Silicon Imaging SI-2K streams 2K (2048x1152) data as uncompressed raw “digital negatives” over a standard gigabit Ethernet connection.
An Intel Core 2 Duo processor-based computer embedded in the camera or tethered to a laptop up to 100 feet away, processes the digital negatives, where they are non-destructively developed and colorized for preview using the cinematographer's desired "look" for the scene.
 The digital negatives and "look" metadata are simultaneously recorded to hard drive or solid state disk where up to 4-hours of continuous footage are captured on a single 160GB notebook drive; this is the equivalent of 14-reels of 35mm film which has an associated cost exceeding $25,000 for materials and processing. The recorded files, can be immediately played with the target color look at full resolution, without the need for film scanning, tape ingest, format conversions or off-line proxies.
A customized camera support and recording package had to be built to meet the unique form factor demands of the Slumdog shoot. . They enlisted Pille Film, of Wiesbaden Germany, to create a custom solution which included a gyro stabilizer for the base of the SI-2K Mini. Instead of using the traditional film-style camera body, they elected to use Apple Mac book Pro notebook, running Windows XP, for the recorders, and built them into ruggedized backpacks, to be worn inconspicuously.
Stefan Ciupek, the show’s technical supervisor and additional camera operator, coordinated the design and modifications of the camera system with Wolfgang Damm of Pille, whose team worked around the clock to get the 2K Mini rigs built.

Technological Convergence Gadgets to watch films on:

Smart-phones (iPhone etc)
MP4 players
Portable Games Consoles (PSP etc)
Laptops (Airbooks etc)
 Multimedia devices,

films at home:
Games Consoles (Xbox 360, PS3 etc)
PC (via DVD, BluRay, il/legal downloads)
Home Cinema (Plasma TV / Projector + digital TV)

How do these help/hinder institutions and audiences?