Technology changes essay

Media

Essay

Changes to film

Essay question: "Technology has been rapidly evolving and this has meant significant changes to the film production process at every level. Outline these changes and discuss their impact on the film industry and what it means for audiences consuming the media produced."

The evolution of technology has had a gargantuan effect on the film production process, including how we consume and distribute media. Film was introduced in the late eighteen hundreds, where one roll of film would only last around 10 minutes before having to be replaced. This was a costly step in the production process, people would say that the cast and crew would take the job seriously when you could hear the hustle and bustle of the camera filming. “You could hear the money rolling through the camera as we filmed”, said by one of the cinematographers in the factual film ‘Side by Side’.

Filming has come a long way in terms of how the movie is made. Before, trying to make a ‘blockbuster’ film was one of the most time consuming professions. Instead of being able to see the full image as you are shooting, cinematographers, producers and directors would have to wait till the next day. This allowed time for the film to develop overnight in a film lab, after this had been done only then can the roll go onto be printed. Printing was done when they placed the clear image over a light box which was then manually cut out and pasted onto each other in order to create their “edit”. This was the manipulation of the art in order to create an imagery masterpiece. It is a popular opinion between many older and widely known film artists that the true authenticity of original film added an extra grain that gave you a wider opportunity in how your film was released or the avenues it could go down. “Digital didn’t look anywhere near as authentic as film”. The directors of photography were known as the “genies on set” ; it was described as “painting with the lights off”. A good example of a ‘grainy’ film would be West side story, directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robins. This film was released on the 18th of October in 1961, the film earned a total of $44.1 million dollars US in the box office. This is a colossal amount considering they only had a budget of $6 million US dollars.

Digital camera filming wasn't introduced until the late 1900s/early 2000s; this stands now-a-days as one of the first steps in the production process. A digital camera doesn't use film but instead the image is created by light streaming through the lens which then hits the pixels inside the camera, “it is a very finite and accurate thing”. Sony introduced one of the first ‘hand-held’ cameras. Through this revolutionary invention, producers and other key crew members were able to see the picture immediately as the movie was being filmed. This was a huge time saver as they no longer had to wait more than 24 hours just to see the one scene that was shot. CCD chips ( charged-coupled devices) were made so that it could create a movement of electrical charge throughout the camera. The emotional movement through a ‘hand-held’ camera was able to be used to create a masterpiece that affected the audience in a different way. Even though this new way of producing media was an effective and time efficient way of doing things, it made people unaware of time as it just seemed to fly by. They were on a non-stop schedule as there were no anticipated breaks where the crew had to replace the film or readjust the camera. Actors were worn out by the end of the day because they had no time to regroup and gather their thoughts once again. This was a clear upset and abuse of power. Robert Downey Jr who has starred in many blockbuster films such as most marvel movies including Iron man and The Avengers film series. Marvel alone is worth an estimate of $5 billion USD, which is owned by the Disney corporation. As he is such an A-list actor, he had the influential status to create an almost protest against the conditions they were made to work in. He would go to the bathroom in mason jars and leave them on set as a protest saying how they were never stopping frankly because they didn't need to.

The Editdroid was introduced in 1984. The EditDroid pioneered the use of the graphical display for editing, introducing the timeline as well as digital picture icons to identify raw source clips. This changed the face of film and derailed the ways in which manual labour was enticed when it came to physically cutting and pasting together the images to create a full picture sequence.

Media fragmentation has taken away the experience of a full frontal cinema viewing. People would come as a social interaction to get the whole vibe of a movie. Hype was created around a film release to draw in ticket sales through the box office earning the film more money. Streaming platforms are such a large part of the way we consume movies and tv shows. Widely known media websites such as Netflix and Amazon Prime made it that much easier for us to get access to whatever we want with the touch of a button or flick of a finger. Video on demand was introduced causing CDs and hard copy movies to enter a rapid decline. Disk sales have gone down more than 86% in the last 13 years. A lot of professionals say that online movie watching takes away from the true experience of a movie, compared to back when you had to go to the cinema in order to watch the latest released film.

Web 2.0 acted as a game changer for media consumption, people are now able to have interactive access to the internet, decreasing hard copy information such as newspapers or posters. With the mix of this and major conglomerates that have been introduced it was inevitable in the changes of media consumption. Disney owns more than 36% of the total media that is released yearly. By owning such a large portion of the market share, they are able to advertise their films with ease without costing them thousands to find a specific advertising avenue. Whilst the industry has had an immense growth, this has only increased the amount of competition between Hollywood blockbuster movies such as Avatar, released in 2009, and small indie films like Hunt for the Wilderpeople, released in 2016. It has made the rise for small time filmmakers harder as costs such as advertising and editing have skyrocketed with websites such as investopedia.com claiming that on average producers of a film will spend more the 100 million dollars trying to create a fully lengthened movie sequence.

In conclusion this shows how not only has the process of filmmaking evolved but it has also impacted other aspects of how we live and consume our information. Costs are going to slowly increase making the profession of supposedly being a “independent artist” almost impossible when it comes to releasing and producing your own film.