New Technology, it is New and it is Cool

In my last post I said that when motion pictures debuted, they were a smashing hit. Instant cool. It was an idea that hit the ground running and is still running as fast as it can go, and what more did the people expect. The short films produced at the time were like magic. Being able to watch motion and not being there, quite honestly I wish i could have been there. Even if I was not there during that historic period of time, I was there when video exploded onto the Internet, and to me that was almost just as big of a feat. To believe that video can be watched from anywhere that has Internet at any time that I want to... wow this is truly amazing.

I know that the invention of streaming video on the web is not the same as inventing video. Sure this innovation was not as spectacular as the invention of motion picture but it was still very cool. It is the same kind of excitement and boom that the film industry had at the beginning. People could not get enough to get the chance to post a video to get their voices heard and to get their faces onto the screen (even if this one was not all that big at times). Thousands of videos hit the web displaying all types of cool and many others that were not as cool. Quite quickly many people became stars in their own rights on sites such as YouTube, MetaCafe, and many others. Not only this, but people can post a video of themselves commenting on the video that they are watching.

The similarities between the earliest films and the start of popular Internet videos and even the sometimes disturbing viral videos. The first popular videos of the start of the film era were short and had many different subjects, it was not until later when films began to get longer. The first short films such as Edison's "Fred Ott's Sneeze" are very short and catch attention. Many clips can be seen on Internet sites that are very short and comedic like Edison's, and there are even modern day magicians like Méliès. I feel that comedy can be expressed in a shorter time span than any other emotion in film. Although short films can be funny and full of emotion, I would never give up the feature length films as far as an enjoyment and fulfillment, but if you want a quick laugh you can always watch the short classify "Internet Nickelodeons" of: Hey Marine!, Star Wars Kid, Afro Ninja, or my personal favorite! Either way, the fad of Internet video might become uncool eventually, but I feel that film will always be cool.