From the Publisher
In this book Lev Manovich offers the first systematic and rigorous
theory of new media. He places new media within the histories of
visual and media cultures of the last few centuries. He discusses
new media''s reliance on conventions of old media, such as the
rectangular frame and mobile camera, and shows how new media works
create the illusion of reality, address the viewer, and represent
space. He also analyzes categories and forms unique to new media,
such as interface and database.
Manovich uses concepts from film theory, art history, literary
theory, and computer science and also develops new theoretical
constructs, such as cultural interface, spatial montage, and
cinegratography. The theory and history of cinema play a
particularly important role in the book. Among other topics,
Manovich discusses parallels between the histories of cinema and of
new media, digital cinema, screen and montage in cinema and in new
media, and historical ties between avant-garde film and new media.
About the Author
Lev Manovich is Professor of Visual Arts, University of California,
San Diego. His book The Language of New Media (MIT Press,
2001) has been hailed as "the most suggestive and broad ranging
media history since Marshall McLuhan."