The Technologies, Aesthetics, Philosophy and Politics of High Definition Video

In April 2007 at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, High Definition changed forever. Whereas previous HD cameras had cost half a million dollars, Jim Jannard, a sunglasses manufacturer from Canada, managed to develop a new camera, called the ‘Red One,’ retailing at $17,500. This development signaled a change in the production of High Definition that was announced through its initial naming. The titling – ‘High Definition’ – was meant to align the new technology with film, giving it more of a sense of quest than analog video, more of a sense of flight, a sense of the arcane, the hidden, thus producing something to aspire to and engendering a sense of being elite, in turn, evoking some of film’s prior sense of mystery. In the article that follows I explore the rapidly changing face of HD and its impact in terms of technical, aesthetic and societal perspectives.