Benjamin says, “that which withers in the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art.” Keeping this in mind while visiting a museum on the history of German film is truly inspiring. No art for in history has so mercilessly rendered all other art forms so obsolete as film has. A film is in itself already a mechanical production, and thus mechanical reproduction is nothing special. Where as for thousands of years, what man has done by hand is now possible almost entirely though technology. 3D printers for sculpture, computers for architecture, and graphic design for painting. Of course there are the differences that cannot be replicated through technology, such as the brush strokes and the cracks in the concrete. These are the small minor details, that when accumulated together makes art human. In terms of photography, and later film, though, all production is created through a lens, what is produced is merely manipulated rather than created. The stage of theater has long been a home to artistic expression, and now, through close ups and filters, we have stories revealed to us one frame at a time, all rehearse and perfected and captured and copied exactly forever. There may be, in terms of aura, advancements that have been made as technology has advanced. For instance the introduction of sound has lead the text dialogue to become completely unnecessary. And the ability to allow color to be visible when filming has changed how we see the world through the screen. These two examples, although aged,  both have their own situational qualities to them. I use the recent film The Artist as a great example. In this day and age of computer images, it still takes a special talent, a flair for brining the old school back, that which was once revolutionary to be brought to light all over again. The film the Artist is in black and white and with no sound, a true homage to the birth of film if there ever was one. Instead of letting what was dead stay there, it has been cleverly reborn again to serve as a reminder of just how far we have come.

Sound and color are probably the two most obvious forms of aura for a film that can come to mind. Just as the dust on a record produces the crackling sound that adds an aging effect that we all cannot help but love, so too has the clear and succinct sharpness of film come from a place of similar origin. Old film reels often have scratch marks that, for a brief second are visible before they disappear. Older film can often be full of these marks and thus a whole reel can consist of brief stutters and halts that add an authenticity of sorts that one would not find in movies today. When you think of clear images, you would usually want to avoid these minor imperfections, but when you see them for what they are, you gain an appreciation for their existence as you think that never would you see this happen nowadays.