Executable Cinema: demos, screensavers and videogames as audiovisual formats

Abstract

The digitisation of the multilayered cinematographic apparatus turns the cinematographic image into an extension of the projecting system, making the movie impossible to be separated from the rendering mechanism in both physical and logical levels. Thus, graphic user interfaces and digitised movies would share a similar nature, in which every image is a real time manifestation of the computer as a surface effect. So, the definition of the limits between the audiovisual work and the rendering system becomes msomewhat arbitrary, conditioned by economical and cultural standards that are not directly related to the qualities of cinema itself. In order to further investigate this hypothesis, we analyze three different computer-generated visual systems as audiovisual “genres”: demoscene videos, screensavers and videogames.