Film: A Dying Art or an Evolving Franchise?

1459 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The evolution of film technology

Filmmaking, the art of the motion picture, is a comparatively new art form that combines a moving image in conjunction with sound, primarily to tell a story. Due to the medium of capturing the image is evolving, so is the art in its entirety. Modern technology is allowing a more cheaper, streamlined form of production, thus rendering older methods unnecessary. Celluloid filmmaking is the old method of capturing film on a negative film strip and developing it later in its most natural state, whereas digital film is capturing synthetic and manipulatable pixels on a computer-like device. Digital filmmaking should be a primary film medium but not completely eradicate the dying celluloid film culture. Technology has propelled the film industry into investing in cheaper, more effective means of receiving the same cinematic look and quality while providing a streamlined process to easily manipulate the image in post production. R.C. Varenas, a writer and filmmaker tells us upfront that digital filmmaking is cheaper (Varenas). “What once cost $100,000 might now cost $10,000” (Varenas). The cost for a celluloid camera can vary from $100,000 to $500,000, whereas the cheapest digital cameras can start at $99 and go upward of $100,000. The price differences give different variations on quality and versatility of the cameras allowing anyone on a small budget to purchase or rent one. In a film, the limitations for the production come down to the budget; this extends to beyond filming it, but editing the image as well. 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... ... middle of paper ... ...has to show to the investors and determine if the decisions were worth it. Works Cited Barry, Nora. "Digital Shanachies." Ars Electronica, n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2013. Hurlbut, Shane. "Digital Cinematography vs Film: Tides Are Turning." Hurlbut Visuals. N.p., 06 Feb. 2013. Web. 04 Dec. 2013. Lackey, Rich. "Film vs Digital – The Debate (and War) Is Over." Digital Cinema Demystified. WordPress, 29 Jan. 2010. Web. 06 Dec. 2013. Manovich, Les. "What Is Digital Cinema?" Manovich. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. Sheffield, Caroline C. "Technology and the Gifted Adolescent: Higher Order Thinking, 21st Century Literacy, and the Digital Native." NCSU. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. Smith, Alvy Ray. "Alpha and the History of Digital Compositing." Princeton, n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2013. Varenas, R. C. "Film vs. Digital: Do Labels Matter?" FilmSlate. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.

Show More
Related

  • O Brother, Where Art Thou, by Ethan and Joel Coen

    1410 Words  | 3 Pages

    The intermix of a great literary work into a modern production is not a new concept, but the use of digital enhancement to carry a theme was unheard of prior to the making of this film. Both Director of Photography Roger Deakens, and Business Development Director Sarah Priestnall from Kodak, helped to explain that the digital process used is the modification of the film at the pixel level, in which the film is digitized frame by frame and each frame is color matched to allow for manipulation. The mastering process was done in the film developing...

    Read More

  • Analysis of the Film Narrative "Wendy and Lucy"

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bordwell David and Thompson, Kristen. Film Art: An Introduction. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008.

    Read More

  • Digital Film Technology Revolutionizes the Film Industry

    1335 Words  | 3 Pages

    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,

    Read More

  • Technology and the Death of Cinema

    671 Words  | 2 Pages

    The emergence of home theatre allowed films to be released in a variety of formats and screened on various types of equipment. Studios began viewing conversion of film into multiple formats as a top priority. Though box-office numbers remained important markers of success it wasn’t the largest source of revenue...

    Read More

  • History Of Special Effects Makeup

    1976 Words  | 4 Pages

    Two dimensional computer generated imagery was used to express depth and to produce new shades that could not be depicted just through animation and drawing.

    Read More

  • The Big Sleep: Movie vs. Novel

    1588 Words  | 4 Pages

    Bordwell, David, and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997.

    Read More

  • The Creative Process in Film

    1505 Words  | 4 Pages

    With this short but very interesting and informative class I have just scratched the surface of the what it takes to make a full fleged film. It takes much more than I had presumed to make a movie in Hollywood. The number of people that it takes to make a minute of a movie let alone the entire movie was astonishing to me. There are many things that it takes to start making a movie but without an idea of some sort there is no movie to be made.

    Read More

  • The Butterfly Effect, and A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury

    1125 Words  | 3 Pages

    O'Connel, David. "Frequency Film Review." Screen Fanatic. On Topic Media PTY LTD, 21 Nov. 2008. Web. 13 Dec. 2011.

    Read More

  • Igmar Bergman Research Paper

    1945 Words  | 4 Pages

    My first camera gave me a direction for my future, along with the guidance of two inspiring teachers and the insightful films by Ingmar Bergman. Freshman year, I reluctantly took Video Journalism, but in this class I had discovered that I enjoyed recording and editing videos. The next three years I spent in Video Yearbook embedded my desire to move forward in the field of cinematography and film/video production. Additionally, I am fascinated by the creation of movies and the stories they tell. The art of a film coming together is both, exciting and complicated. A bachelor’s degree will be essential to understanding that a movie making process is collaborative and requires organizational techniques. The benefits of

    Read More

  • The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

    971 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bordwell, David, and Kristen Thompson. Film Art an Introduction. 6th ed. of the book. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2001.

    Read More

  • Sound and Editing Analysis

    1023 Words  | 3 Pages

    Cinema Journal 48.1 (2008): 27-50. Project MUSE. Web. The Web.

    Read More

  • Film Industry: Then And Now

    1103 Words  | 3 Pages

    The film industry has always been somewhat of a dichotomy. Grounded firmly in both the worlds of art and business the balance of artistic expression and commercialization has been an issue throughout the history of filmmaking. The distinction of these two differing goals and the fact that neither has truly won out over the other in the span of the industry's existence, demonstrates a lot of information about the nature of capitalism.

    Read More

  • The Process of Film Making

    1075 Words  | 3 Pages

    Offering the unique ability to visually and audibly convey a story, films remain a cornerstone in modern society. Combined with a viewer’s desire to escape the everyday parameters of life, and the excitement of enthralling themselves deep into another world, many people enjoy what films stand to offer. With the rising popularity of films across the world, the amount of film makers increases every day. Many technological innovations mark the advancement of film making, but the essential process remains the same. Pre-production accounts for everything taken place before any shooting occurs, followed by the actual production of the film, post-production will then consist of piecing the film together, and finally the film must reach an audience. Each step of this process contributes to the final product, and does so in a unique right. The process of film making will now start chronologically, stemming from the idea of the story, producing that story into a film, editing that footage together, and finally delivering that story to its viewers.

    Read More

  • Why Do People Watch Movies?

    774 Words  | 2 Pages

    If we go back beyond Lumière Brothers’ projection of their cinematography in Paris over Christmas 1895, which is too straightforward birth narration of cinema; ancient visual forms like Egyptian hieroglyphics or pre-cinematic technologies of image capture and projection, known as magic lanterns, employing a series of lenses and light sources, were early proof of humanity mesmerised by the play and tricks of light and shades.

    Read More

  • The Role of Computer Generated Imagery in the Movie (Film) Industry

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Role of Computer Generated Imagery in the Film Industry Computer Generated Imagery is the special effects used in motion pictures to create a visual depiction of an illusion that can not be easily created in real life. Directors of major motion pictures have been using these technologies since the early days of the personal computer. Early on, when and special effects were in their beginning stages, it was difficult to make efficient and effective effects that are well accepted by the movie critics and the general public. An evolution of special effects and the introduction of computerized animation brought the standards for movie effects to a higher level. The development of new methods of Computer Generated Imagery for less money and more effective than in the past has allowed even fairly low budget movies to incorporate such technology.

    Read More

More about Film: A Dying Art or an Evolving Franchise?

Open Document