The Future of Magazines?
I use a question mark at the end of the title because I’m not sure what I believe about this one… Our old friend Alexx Henry has joined the growing ranks of photographers who have created a magazine cover with the RED ONE camera. He make a “living art” cover and inside spread for Outside Magazine but Alexx has also taken a big step (out on a limb perhaps?) forward with his efforts and has envisioned a magazine of the future and how the new MCS (Motion Capture for Stills) technology will be supplanted by straight motion.
ASIDE: I am going to abruptly rename VCS as MCS – Motion Capture for Stills – sorry Lou! – I just don’t think that “video” makes much sense when you are talking about a camera that shoots in 4K resolution and MOTION is a more generic word than VIDEO. Let’s see if I have any luck making this change stick!
Alexx shows off his concept on his site where he proudly proclaims that “The Future of Print is Nigh”. I’m not sure what’s going to happen to print in the next few years but I can definitely say that the future of print is CHANGING – this is, after all, the week when Condé Nasty killed “Bon Appetite” and several other (less aged) publications.
Here’s an excerpt from his press release:
Designed with emerging technology in mind, Henry created the Living Spread as a contribution to a debate concerning the future of print, and to offer a scenario for it’s possible evolution. Currently, Henry’s Living Spread can only be viewed online, though not for much longer. While magazines have yet to widely implement the technology for motion photography spreads, that day appears to be imminent: display technologies such as E-ink and organic LED, (OLED), screens continue to develop towards flexible screens that will make Henry’s imagining of a futuristic magazine possible within a few short years.
“This could be the answer for reviving an industry with an uncertain future,” says Henry. “The Living Spread, which is totally unique—not possible with traditional print, and not the same online—could transform the way we engage in tangible media. This could be the evolution of print,” he adds.
Will we have magazines after the fabled Apple® iTablet hits the streets next year? I don’t think so – but then, I thought the internet was a passing fad! (I did however sell all my Microsoft stock 6 months before the tech crash and my condo 6 months before real estate peaked – so I’m not totally out of it…)
No matter what finally happens there is no doubt that shooting a magazine cover with a still camera seems to be a passing fad and we have to look to people like Alexx to create a new esthetic that will define the look of PhotoCine for us – or still photographers are all going to get eaten alive by members of the cinematographers guild.
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