Oszilloskopie im Experimentalfilm der frühen 1950er Jahre

In the early 1950s, experimental films emerged that artistically processed electronic images for the first time. The dissertation captures them as a corpus for the first time and examines the integration of electronic oscillograms in the animation films of Mary Ellen Bute (1906-1983), Hy Hirsh (1911-1961), and Norman McLaren (1914-1987) from 1951 to 1954, focusing on the intersection of electronics and cinematography. The author investigates the practices employed and the relational network involved in the production of the films: Alongside human actors, devices and technical processes were also involved in the production. To adequately describe this human-technology relationship, a transfer of the affordance approach into a historically oriented media and film studies is undertaken. The study asks what modes of operation the oscilloscope allowed based on its usual contexts of use, technical parameters, and interface design, and how it was appropriated for the experimental films. Furthermore, the existing periodization, which places electronic arts in the 1960s, is questioned by examining this critical moment in technology and film history at the beginning of the 1950s. This expansion of the history of electronic moving images is conducted with a perspective on the increasingly significant digital-numerical media and electronic arts.