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.

Brian Winston is Professor of Communications and Lincoln Chair at the University of Lincoln, UK. He has held senior academic posts at UK National Film and Television School, New York University, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Wales (Cardiff), Westminster University and the University of Lincoln where, before his present position, he was a Pro-Vice Chancellor.

Contents .- Preface viii .- NTRODUCTION: NECESSITIES AND CONSTRAINTS 1.- A Pattern of Technological Change .- On Technological Determinism .- Modelling Technological Change .- CHAPTER 1: THE CASE OF THE CINEMA 10 The 'Invention' of the Cinema: Accelerators and Brakes: Great Men Invent the Cinema Errors and Omissions The Edison Patent Battles The Context for Cinema: Realism and Illusionism The Context for Cinema: Narrative The Context for Cinema: The Mass Audience Towards a Structural Account of the Making of Cinema .- CHAPTER 2: THE CASE OF COLOUR FILM 39 White Skin and Colour Film: The Ideology of the Apparatus .- On Ideological Innocence 'Natural' Colour 'Inventing' Colour Film Reproducing Colour Colour in Motion The Meaning of Colour 'Pleasing Flesh Tones' .- CHAPTER 3: THE CASE OF 16MM FILM 58From Home Movies to Cinéma Vérité: Looking for a Need: The Standard of the Art: Edison's Strategy The Emergence of 16mm: Kodak's Strategy Avoiding the Amateur (1): The Newsreels Avoiding the Amateur (2): The Documentary Movement Avoiding the Amateur (3): The Radicals and The Ethnographers Suppressing 16mm's Potential Supervening Necessity: Stage 1 - World War II Supervening Necessity: Stage 2 - TV News Supervening Necessity: Stage 3 - 'A Breath of Fresh Air for Documentary The Rise and Fall of 16mm .- CHAPTER 4: THE CASE OF HDTV 88Lights, Camera, Inaction: Hollywood and Technology One from the Heart: Coppola's Strategy Social Demands of Post-Industrial Societies: NHK's Strategy Broadcasters Must Maintain Faith: The Engineer's Strategy We're Behind Japan - Again: The Media's Strategy 35mm Quality at 16mm Production Prices: Sony's Strategy Give Me One Good Reason to Change: Hollywood's Strategies They Could Not See the Sound: Hollywood's Strategies (1) Technicolour: Hollywood's Strategies (2) Too Grainy for Projection: Hollywood's Strategies (3) A Man and His Dream: Coppola's Strategy Revisited The Five-Year Syndrome: The Technophiles' Strategy .- CHAPTER 5: THE CASE OF THE THIRD DIMENSION 109Where is Holography?: Necessities and Constraints From the Stereoptician to Bwana Devil From the Interference Hypothesis to the Interferometer Holography as a 'Time-Based Medium'.- Notes 119.