On Prescriptive Technological Modes of Cinematic Research Methods and Artistic Autonomy

Ursula Franklin’s delineation of “holistic” and “prescriptive” modes of technology offers a useful lens for viewing cinematic methods of artistic research. As new cinematic tools become available to researchers, artistic autonomy can be impacted by the weight of media infrastructures, which often assign tasks to their users, rendering user behaviours as the outputs of technological systems. A suggested strategy for researchers is to adopt “self-reflexivity” as an inherent aspect of cinematic research methodologies, thereby embedding critical attitudes towards new-media technological environments.