Basis/Summary.
There has been an awareness of technology changing our lives for
the past
century. Communications, in particular is a prime example. People
once
marvelled at the very incling of sending one's voice to another
part of
the planet -- something we have long since taken for granted.
Although used for sending 'telegrams' for/to/by most any average
person (and
then some), the 'teleprinter' (the actual generic name for the
Western Electric
trade-name "teletype") lived most of its life sending and receiving
the news
that we have read, or heard -- news that made history as we know
it. Many
people can recall the association with news broadcasts, and the
sound of
the teletype hammering away in the background, implying that the
news was
being presented to you in real-time -- only moments after it had
been
made.
Much has changed in the last thirty years, including the methods
of
communicating information (communication of 'text-based' information
such as
this is generally referred to as "data communications"). The last
of the
teletypes have long since been removed from service in news rooms;
most
military installations have also sent most of their teleprinters
to the scrap
or surplus piles (with a very few possibly remaining in Military
Reserve,
or Civil Air Patrol units).
Film Description/Synopsis.
The images presnted here are shadows -- echoes; the last rites of
a machine
(and its identification and/or association with humanity). As the
focal
point changes from one point of view to the next, each mechanical
function
reveals its role, hence, making its own statement. Eventually,
the wheels and
gears come to a halt. An almost human "skull" like image is later
seen more
visably to be the end of an electric motor -- the very heart of
the machine --
stopped, with smoke trailing out of it. The machine has ceased.
Unknowingly,
it has lived much of the life of its creator.
"Death of a Teletype" was shot in 16mm. black and white stock (EK
7278
Tri-X) using incandescent (tungsten) lighting to reproduce the
appearance
of the time (1920s) when the machine lived in its glory.
History
Of Teletype Development
A Brief History
of Data Communications
Teletype Technology
MODEL
15 TELETYPE
Model 19 Teletype
(1942)
Teletype ASR-28
TELETYPE
MODEL 32ASR
ASR-33 Teletype
Buffalo
Central Terminal Telegraph Office circa 1959 to 1964
Information about
TTY
RTTY.COM