Technologies of seeing : photography, cinematography and television

This text examines the complex forces pushing and constraining technological developments in cinema.

It contests the view that technological advance is simply the result of scientific progress.

Rather, the author argues that social forces control the media technology agenda at every stage.

Questions posed by this work include why the cinema is 100 years old rather than 120 or 150 years old, why Kodak film stocks have such trouble capturing non-Caucasion skin tones, and why professionals waited thirty years before widely adopting 16mm film.