Reading Response 2

For the Tom Gunning reading, it was very interesting to read about the reactions and reports of the first cinematic screening. We discussed a bit in class earlier in the semester but I can see how the Luminère projections can be startling. The thing this paper made me most think about was how we could achieve this in our own work in class. The film medium is not new and has been around for a while but how can we make something that’s as jarring as the Arrival of a Train at the Station.

This thought then made me wonder what else has had this much of a reaction in present day. The only thing I can think of is virtual reality, which is nothing new but I’ve had an experience with this before with my own VR set. I have the PlayStation VR and when people try it on, they do get scared or have a over the top reaction. I don’t know if this same reaction could be done with a film since it’s such an old medium. In the past I’ve tried to do something with VR and film/video but was unsuccessful because of the technology I was able to get. Now, I built my own VR gaming rig and will soon try to get a more powerful and open sourced VR set and will try this again. Hopefully there can be a way to incorporate the physical film medium into a VR world or video and have a merge of the new technology. I’m all about mixing the old with the new.