In many ways, film as a medium has changed over time with cultural and technological advancements. Film started as something that could only be seen in a theater, then transitioned to a medium that could be watched at home via VHS and DVD, and is now in its most freely accessible form.
Film has adapted to its current viewers by becoming much shorter and more accessible over time. While long, traditional cinema does still exist, the creation of media sources like YouTube have allowed for the convenient sharing of short, often user-generated film. This is the result of our shorter attention spans, as well as a desire to get the best message in the shortest amount of time. We feel that we are too busy to waste hours on a full length film. This same idea is reflected in Twitter’s 140 character limit. We don’t want to spend time finding the information, we just want to read or watch it quickly, so we can move on.
Film has also adapted to the social trend of sharing personal content online. In a world of Facebook, Instagram, and the countless other social media platforms, we are constantly sharing photos, videos, and other information about our lives that we think others will find interesting. Film is no longer something that only professionals can create and share, but something that is accessible to everyone.
These new changes in the structure of film raise questions about its classification as a medium. Is the new, internet film of the 21st century the same medium as traditional cinema? Or is it a completely new medium? I think YouTube videos are in the same medium as other film, just a more evolved version of the medium. In The Future of a Medium Once Known as Television, William Uricchio writes “YouTube’s limits as an exemplar of mashup culture and Web 2.0 may be precisely its strengths as a transitional model to next generation television.” The short, easy to watch, and easy to create videos are not a different medium, but the transformation of an old medium. Over time, mediums evolve into similar, yet more effective modes of transportation. For example, painting art on caves transformed into painting on canvas. The idea is the same, but the way artists convey the idea has adapted to a new society with new technology.
As far as categorization of this evolved medium, it’s not very different than the categorization of traditional cinema. Many of the genres of film still remain, but with some new genres, like vlogs. Some of the traditional genres, like instructional videos, have become more efficient as a result of their much shorter lengths.
Film will continue to evolve as a medium in the future. This could eventually mean the end of all professionally filmed and directed cinema, as the medium becomes entirely user-generated over the internet. If the medium did not adapt to new viewers in new cultures, it would become obsolete. With new technology, humans will find new ways to share film in a way that makes the most sense based on the societal and cultural values at the time.