Revolutions in Resolution: Cultural Passing through “Cinematic” Video

Abstract

This article investigates video production in the early digital era in relation to the “cinematic mode,” a practice in which video makers have attempted to emulate the look and feel of analog film with cheaper digital video. As a marker of esteem, professionalism, and legitimacy, the “cinematic look” has served as a qualitative image standard and a visible point of separation that places cameras and their users in hierarchies of cultural importance. Utilizing the video production trade press, I discuss the differences between early digital cameras’ “video look” in relation to the cinematic standard and speak to the stakes of achieving and leveraging the “cinematic look” as a potentially revolutionary act of cultural passing, as its use elevated the status of video practitioners and enabled them to pass cultural gatekeepers, to further cultivate and diversify a culture of low-budget independent cinema and to generate opportunities for personal and company growth so long as they functioned within the preexisting industry power structure.