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Digital Cinematography For over a century motion picture have entertained the masses, allowing people to view life taking place on a large screen. For the majority of this time these movies were shot using the same film found in photographic cameras. Technology always seems to take over and the film industry seems poised to be the next target. With digital picture acquisition getting better everyday, movies are beginning to be shot completely digital. There are a number of plusses and minuses of shooting digitally but digital cinematography will soon replace film in most productions. The emergence of digital or "electronic" cinematography, began in the late 1980's. Sony came up with an idea for a HDTV camera but there was little interest in this concept. Most all television shows and commercials are shot using some form of digital video tape, but now films are leaning in the same direction. Low budget filmmakers have been utilizing the MiniDV format for years with it's quality being considerably greater than other prior formats. In May 2002 Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones became the first major motion picture release to be done digitally. This film was shot using 24 frame-per-second high-definition video utilizing a Sony CineAlta camera. Typical video cameras operate at 29.97 fps, but these higher quality digital cameras being released are capable of operating at 24 fps, the same way traditional film cameras work. Digital cinematography operates on the same principals as digital photography. These cameras go about capturing images by the use of light sensors. These sensors are commonly referred to as CMOS and CCD, with CCD sensors being the most common. These sensors typically come in one of two arrays allowing for flexibility while shooting. Most cameras used for digital cinematography are equipped with one sensor that operates in a similar manner to a film frame. These large sensors allow the user to outfit these higher quality digital cameras with the same lenses that are used with 35mm film. The digital cameras that are used more for broadcast typically carry a three sensor array. A prism is used to split the color spectrum and each sensor is responsible for a different color. This increases the quality of the color reproduction, but these cameras cannot be outfitted with traditional film lenses. With film the actual images are stored on each individual film frame. Digital images can be stored in two different fashions.
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...
the visual medium. In a way that is unique to the cinema, the special effects disrupt the
film goes is very fast and it changes from one location to the next in
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...
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,
Dancyger, K., 2007. The technique of film and video editing: history, theory, and practice. 4th ed. s.l.:Taylor & Francis.
In Lev Manovich’s What is Digital Cinema, he states that “traditional film technology is universally being replaced by digital technology.” (Manovich, 178) This is indeed true. Digital technology is changing video games as well. Both films and video games depend on each other. Film studios and video game developers remediate each other’s product to maximize profits. Filmmakers, cinematographers, directors, actors and composers often work on video games. The two industries use the same technology. Both medias tell interrelated stories in both narrative worlds, which Jenkins calls it, transmedia storytelling. Transmedia storytelling is an approach that reconfigures the entire media experience. Video games that are based on films allow the players to interact with the characters that are seen in the film by manipulating the console’s controller.
The Matrix is a sci-fi action film about a computer hacker named Neo that has been brought into another world deemed “the matrix.” The Matrix is a prime example of cinematography. The film uses many different types of cinematography such as mise-en-scene, special effects, and camera shots to make it interesting and entertaining to the audience guiding their attention to the important aspects of the film.
... Film Art: An Introduction. 5th ed. of the book. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, 1997.
Technology is a central issue surrounding film making from the times of Charlie Chaplin's silent films to today's modern and computer-animated films such as George Lucas's Star Wars. In addition there have been a system of changes in computer, phone and video enhancement which has propelled vast amounts of information knowledge to the public at a rapid rate.
Computer generated imagery has evolved and spread throughout cinematography and the film world like wildfire. Although computer generated imagery offers countless creative opportunities, the art form of special effects makeup should be practiced and preserved, as just that- an art form. Most people have begun to describe special effects makeup as anachronistic. Considering how long special effects makeup has been around, people are convinced that its existence is coming to an end.
Nolan also quotes that “The problem with the push to digital is it has been given a consumer aspect,” He suggest that it confuses the camera with an Ipad. Nolan believes that digital is “not what is best for the film. Nolan states that he does use digital technology in the editing process and for special effects and in other ways but in the end he wants his films to be shot on film ('Dark Knight Rises').
Computer Generated Imagery began with awkward and dull effects in the early 1980’s. The 1982 film “Tron” was a desperate attempt from Disney to jump on the CGI bandwagon and start a revolution in film making technologies (imdb.com). Although this film showed an attempt at something that had never been done before in the history of cinematics, it was weird and confusing. This broke the door down for other companies to start up and aid films in creating better and better effects that appealed to a larger market. Although the effects were not good in the early days, the general film going public was astonished by computer generated effects and flocked to the theaters to see these cheesy attempts to use basic technology that did not transfer well to the silver screen. It was not until later films like “Jurassic Park,” “Toy Story,” and “The Lord of the Rings” until CGI became a film making powerhouse and the killer application for high budget movies.
Many people don’t think about it so much, but movies (or just film in general) have become such a big part of our lives that we don’t think much of it because it just feels like a usual part of living. But have you ever wondered why this is, and how far back film started? Movies and film have been around for a long time, have developed in big ways throughout time, and has advanced in such a big and new way to this day.
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.