Film and television have become a major medium for information distribution across the world. According to Berger (2008), “Images generally are visual, often are mediated—carried by the mass media—and are connected to information, values, beliefs, attitudes, and ideas people have” (Seeing Is Believing, p. 61). Although film and television are in themselves separate mediums, they correlate with each other and have many similarities
History of Film
The first device to record and watch film, called a kinetoscope, was created by William Dickson, an employee of Thomas Edison. The first time Dickson made his kinetoscope public was in March of 1891. These films were in fact bland and of poor quality and used processes that did not last long in the film industry. In 1906, George Smith created a process that added color to film. This process is called kinemacolor. There were many problems with the kinemacolor, which was discarded in 1932 when Technicolor was invented (http://www.cinemateca.org/film/film_history.htm).
Throughout the years, film production has become an art. In the 40s, 50s, and 60s there was no way to digitally enhance film or create the special effects that we see in film today. Producers used simple techniques, such as scale, multiple exposure, time-lapse photography, and hand painted color schemes. In 1968, the induced illusion of 3-D filming was introduced through the use of front projection and static transparency (http://www.cinemateca.org/film/
film_history.htm).
Since the 1960’s, huge bounds have been made in the film industry. New techniques have been formed to create awesome aesthetic films that surpass the films of yesterday. The use of computer animation, graphics, and special effects has become...
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...be tied together in some form throughout the years in order to keep producing great media.
References
Chandler, D. (2004). The grammar of television and film. Retrieved on July 3, 2010, from http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/gramtv.html
Cinemateca.org (2001). Film history. Retrieved July 3, 2010, from http://www.cinemateca.org/film/film_history.htm
O’Malley, M. (2004, April). Regulating television. Retrieved on July 2, 2010, from http://chnm.gmu.edu/exploring/20thcentury/regulatingtelevision/index.php
Berger, A. (2008). Seeing is believing: An introduction to visual communication. Boston: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Scribd. (2007, April 19). The history of special effects and digital technology in film. Retrieved July 3, 2010, from http://www.scribd.com/doc/34079/The-History-of-Special-Effects-and-Digital-Technology-in-Films-
There first invention produced was the Technicolor System 1 Additive Color, which I’m sorry to say flopped massively due to the unfortunate screening of The Gulf Between in 1917 which only a few frames remain of this film today. This was the first public premier of the technology and was disastrous. The film was captured through two separate filters red and green and the light through those two filters was captured on a single reel of film, when processed this negative had red and green information captured on a black and white reel, when this was processed the reel was placed into a projector and then threw red and green filters. To project the image an adjustable prism that had to manually lined up by the projectionist as two separate images formed on the projection screen this did not work as planned as the projectionist failed to line up the images correctly.
the visual medium. In a way that is unique to the cinema, the special effects disrupt the
The spectacular qualities within the contemporary films that use VFX became progressively important to Hollywood. The popularity of the ever growing special effects has been increased by a growing demand for products in different multimedia forms such as computer games, theme-park rides and many other secondary outlets that frequently generated more profits then the films they were based on.
Many other innovations of technique came from this film, such a technique known as the “wipe” where on image is wiped off the screen by another, as well as other innovations which resulted from Greg Toland’s experimental camera angles.
Science fiction movies have taken a leap with the use of its new technology: 3D. With the help of 3-D camera systems, projectors, sound effects, and shutter glasses, film makers have been able to improve science fiction movies, captivating audiences of all ages. It was not until 2004 when 3-D technology regained its popularity after having a thwarted emergence during the 1920s. The first 3-D movie was produced in 1922. Although Avatar is considered the best 3-D film ever made, several movie critics disagree, arguing that “House of Wax”, produced in 1923, has been the best 3-D movie so far. Many companies, such as Sony, Panasonic, and LG, are already selling TV screens with this innovative technology integrated in it. However, not everything about 3-D technology is as good as it seems; it has its drawbacks as well. And it has been recommended that children under the age of 12 should not watch 3-D television until their eyes are fully developed.
Digital film allows for the image to be easily edited in post production, such as adding visual effects or changing the color of a shot. Though this is effective for many motion pictures trying to achieve this outcome, it does n...
The use of digital film first began to make it’s way into Hollywood in special effects scenes. For example, in Forest Gump, released in 1994 by Paramount Pictures, a few scenes are enhanced with this technology. In a scene which actor Gary Senise loses his legs, producer Robert Zemeckis did his best to manipulate the film to show the actor with no legs. Using digital film technology, visual effects supervisor, Ken Ralston explains how they mastered this technique. Ralston explains,
Any act of conscious communication always true, in varying degrees, two fundamental objectives. One is to inform, instruct and describe, and the other is to entertain or occupy. The products of the mass communication industry made that mandate the particularity that are targeted to a wide receiver, whose acceptance is intended to conquer. The intent of the act is expressed with the term broadcast (spread through mass media), which once meant to sow broadcast the farmland. The cinema, especially the US, is the great communication industry of the twentieth century. Although in recent decades seems to have given primacy to television, the information, education and entertainment on Western culture influence is undeniable.
Technology has had a huge impact on the world, especially the film industry. It has had a long past and as the technology advances, it becomes more and more realistic. It all began with the first machine patented in the United States that showed animated pictures or movies. It was called the “wheel of life” or “zoopraxiscope” and was patented in 1867 by William Lincoln. Moving drawings or photographs were watched through a slit in the zoopraxiscope. However, modern motion picture making began with the invention of the motion picture camera. Frenchman Louis Lumiere is usually credited with the creation of the first motion picture camera in 1895, but several others were invented around the same time. What Lumiere invented was a portable motion picture camera, film processing unit and a projector called the Cinematography, all three functions in one invention. This made motion pictures very popular and it is also known as beginning the motion picture era. In 1895, Lumiere and his brother were the first to present projected, moving, photographic pictures to a paying audience of more than one person. However, they were also not the first to project film. In 1891, the Edison Company successfully demonstrated the Kinetoscope which allowed one person at a time to view moving pictures. Also in 1896, he showed the improved Vitascope projector and it was the first commercially successful projector in the United States.
Explain how film, radio, and television helped change America from a community based culture to shared, homogeneous culture.
The first ever special effects to make an appearance in a movie revolved around the re-creation of a beheading scene. Alfred Clark used his talents to bring to life the beheading of the Queen of Scots in the movie, The Execution of Mary Stewart. (Pullman). Special effects were just being introduced and technology was not what it is now. Therefore, Clark had to have everybody stand still for the execution scene, while the actor was replaced with a dummy.
The 1920’s and 1930’s was considered the golden age for movie production. In the 1920’s the production code started censoring the film makers. This stated that any movie written had to pass a certain criteria examples included: if containing sex, violence, and killing. Early silent movies were often accompanied by live piano or organ music. Films were black and white. According to A Short Stories of the Movies, D.W Griffith, never had the intention to make movies, accidentally writing and reporting for a Louisville newspaper led him to become a movie producer, and writer. He is known as the inventor of Hollywood for using close-up shots, which tightly frames an object; today is known as “zooming”. He also used cross-cutting, in order to make
The central element of the film that was significantly improved in King Kong (2005) was visual effects, evident by its Oscar win for Best Visual Effects. It was remarkable for having the largest number of visual effects shots in a single film. In 1933, stop motion animation was revolutionised with the release of King Kong. Since his cinematic debut in 1933, King Kong has thrilled many audiences. This monstrous ape was animated through the use of stop motion in King Kong (1933). Stop motion animation involves the slight manip...
“The history of computer generated imagery began from work of military industrial teams, trying to use computer graphics for the purpose of simulation and technical instructions.”(Wells, 2006) The invention of colour photography and animation had the biggest impact on cinema until the arrival of computer generated imagery. It wasn’t one person who developed computer generated imagery. It was a combination of developments in the late 1950's and 1960's by pioneers John Whitney Sr., William Fetter, Ivan Sutherland, Ken Knowlton and Charles (Chuck) Csuri which made computer generated imagery an essential tool for film makers today. With new technological advances, computer generated imagery improved greatly. The aim of film makers is and always was to create moving images which appear as realistic as possible to convince the viewer that what they see is “reality”.
American Museum of the Moving Image (n.d.). How Film Projectors Work. Retrieved December 2, 2013, from http://www.movingimage.us/sprockets/filmproj.swf