Side Effects

The software package for post-production video effects, After Effects, is an interesting example of what Lev Manovich calls transcoding or the way that the technical constraints of new media shape cultural practices around creative production. The After Effects look is appearing everywhere, from big budget movies to online video essays. It appeared several times in the film Stranger than Fiction to express the informatics-oriented cognition of the main character. Online video editorials about the Iraq War and Google also appear to use the After Effects aesthetic to make their arguments to the public.