HOW TECHNOLOGY AFFECTS MOTION PICTURE, FILM, AND VIDEO
by Jeremy Tandjung
Introduction
Motion picture has come a long way since the dawn of photography in the late 1800s. The concept of moving pictures has always fascinated mankind with its impact on society. It spawned many new culture and affected many societies. Having able to present motion like in real life made cinema a very impactful tool to influence society. Like every other aspects of society, nowadays they are being affected by the rise of technology.
During the early days, film was shot with film rolls, but now with modern technology, the creative industry has manage to create wonders beyond the average person’s imagination. From black and white to color, from men in gorilla suits to an animated 15-foot-ape, these are just some of the examples of the impact technology has on cinema, which also impacted society as a whole.
To be honest, cinema or motion picture is really big topic, and there are many sources ranging from the creative media itself and academic scholars writing about motion picture. The creative industry usually talks about the techniques they used in making works of art like a movie or even a 5-minute YouTube video. On the other hand, the academic scholarly article explains the social impact cinema has on people.
When I first did my research, I intended to focus on the impact of social media and social platform to the creative industry. YouTube, Snapchat, Vine, and Instagram have become a very powerful tool for small creators to showcase their work in film or video. But as I dig deep into my research, I discover that technology has impacted the film industry way before the information age. Animatronics, CGI, green screen technology, 3-D viewing, and animation has influenced many films that those films who pioneered the use of those technology went on to be successfully either financially or socially. Films like Star Wars, Jurrasic Park, and James Cameron’s Avatar all integrated these innovation in technology to excel their films onto another new level of movies.
For you non-film-enthusiast out there, I have provided a link to an ongoing series about Film History by an online education community called CrashCourse, which is owned by the VlogBrothers, John Green, a well known author, famous because one of his work, The Fault in Our Stars, and Hank Green.
Annotated Bibliography
1.Useful Cinema,” of What Use? Assessing the Role of Motion Pictures in the Largest Public Relations Campaign of the 1920s
Monticone, Paul. “”Useful Cinema,” of What Use? Assessing the Role of Motion Pictures in the Largest Public Relations Campaign of the 1920s.” Cinema Journal, vol. 54, no 4, Summer 2015, pp.74 – 99,
“”Useful Cinema,” of What Use? Assessing the Role of Motion Pictures in the Largest Public Relations Campaign of the 1920s.” is a scholarly article from the academic journal Cinema Journal Summer 2015 edition. This article is written by a graduate student and a PhD candidate at the University of Texas at Austin in Media Studies under the Department of Radio-Television-Film, Paul Monticone. Monticone dedicated his career in film studies, and he already has an Honors Bachelor’s Degree in Cinema Studies from the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada and a Master’s Degree in Film Studies from Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. This article talks about how even in its early days, films and motion picture has already been used by companies to influence society. Monticone’s approach into writing this article was looking up through 72 volumes of record published by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) investigation. The article showcased the role of motion picture in NELA’s campaign against federal law during the end of the Progressive era. The production, advertising, showcasing strategies, and investors relationships are all topics that were tackled by Monticone in his article.
From reading this scholarly article, we can conclude that the author’s intention is to showcase the power or influence motion picture has even during its early days, even though during that era companies had not fully realized and utilized motion picture’s influence on society. With this, we can learn from the illustration and example Monticone used and fully realize the potential of motion picture in society.
2. The Mirror of Performance: Kinaesthetics, Subjectivity, and the Body in Film, Television, and Virtual Worlds
Landay, Lori. “The Mirror of Performance: Kinaesthetics, Subjectivity, and the Body in Film, Television, and Virtual Worlds.” Cinema Journal. vol. 51. Issue 3. Spring 2012. pp. 129-136.
To explore one of the instance of technology integration in film production, I am going to use another scholarly article from the Cinema Journal academic journal titled “The Mirror of Performance: Kinaesthetics, Subjectivity, and the Body in Film, Television, and Virtual Worlds.” by Professor Doctor Lori Landay. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Economics from Colby College, Waterville, Maine, 1985, and she spent a year abroad studying Politics and Sociology at University of York, UK, from 1984 – 1985. Besides that, she also a 2 Masters Degrees, one in English from Indiana University and one in American Studies from Boston College. She got her PhD in American Studies and English, and minor in Women’s Studies from Indiana University in 1994. In this article, Professor Landay tackles the effects of viewing motion capture performance on our brains an how this motion capture technology has opened up a whole new category in acting. Landay also tackles the the pro and cons of motion capture acting. Andy Serkis, one of the most known motion capture actors, even got many awards and recognition because of his performance as Gollum in The Lord of The Rings series and The Hobbit series.
From reading this article, I can conclude that the author did a really good job in doing research in the art of motion capture. Even though it is not a well-organized article, the author managed to transfer the information from her research to her readers. I believe that from reading this article, readers could appreciate the impact of technology in nowadays’ film production.
3. Meet The Real Jedi Who Devote Their Lives to The Force [INSIGHTS]
“Meet The Real Jedi Who Devote Their Lives to The Force [INSIGHTS]” YouTube, uploaded by Elite Daily, 22 Dec 2015
I choose to pick this video to showcase the real influence of cinema in society, and what better film franchise should I pick other than George Lucas’ Star Wars. In this interview/documentary by Elite Daily, news company that target mostly people in the generation-Y group. Here, Elite Daily interviews a man in the state of New York named Alex Bird. He is a member of the Temple of the Jedi Order, which is one out of many churches that practices jediism. Jediism is a religion inspired by the doctrines of the Force, which is an abstract concept in the Star Wars film series. Besides that influence in beliefs, Star Wars also spawned a whole new performing art which is overseen by The Saber Guild.
From this video, we can see how much of a influence Star Wars is in our culture, and technology played a very big role in making Star Wars a very influential film, especially the first film in the series, Star Wars (1977), because during its time, a movie that kind was unheard of.
4. Jurassic Park T-Rex – Building an Animatronic Dinosaur
“Jurassic Park T-Rex – Building an Animatronic Dinosaur”. Stan Winston School of Character Arts, 6 April 2013,
https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/building-jurassic-park-t-rex-animatronic-dinosaur
Another good example of the usage of technology in film production is animatronics. One of the movies that was the pioneer of animatronics usage was Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park (1994). All of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park are all animatronics, which are basically robots with skins. Spielberg asked Stan Winston to made the animatronic and he delivered. The blog post I cited is from the school the Stan Winston’s family founded in 2008 to preserve his legacy in making these kinds of character art. The blog is basically showcasing a 3-part-video on how the t-rex was made beginning from the mechanics till the skinning of the t-rex.
The t-rex was dubbed the biggest actor in film history, and even though the t-rex did not get an oscar nod for its performance, we still have to appreciate the advancement in technology that made this happen. 100 years ago could you imagine a real-life tyrannosaurus rex on the big screen, well now it’s already been achieved nearly 25 years ago. I trust this source because it is the official site of Stan Winston’s School of Character Arts that his family founded to keep his legacy alive.
5. A Systems View of Creativity in a YouTube World
Henriksen, Danah and Megan Hoelting. “A Systems View of Creativity in a YouTube World.” TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, vol. 60, Issue 2, March 2016, pp. 102 – 106,
Thanks to the internet, many creators in many fields have gotten the opportunity to showcase their work to the world. All they need is just their skills and an internet connection. The author of this article, Dr. Danah Henriksen, is an assistant professor at Arizona State University. She got her PhD for Educational Psychology and Educational Technology from Michigan State University in 2011. The article talks about the impact of social media, especially YouTube, on these young creators and gives examples on the people that has successfully like Smosh, Tyler Oakley, even Justin Bieber started from YouTube.
Technology has really influenced how we view the creative industry. The term “creative industry” used to be associated with Hollywood which is full of professional, but now the term “creative industry” could range from movie director to some random guy with a webcam.
6. A Cinematic Journey Through Visual Effects
Levy, Don. “A Cinematic Journey Through Visual Effects”. TED, February 2012.
Don Levy is a film executive that is most famous for his work during his 17-year-tenure at Sony Pictures Entertainment. He contributed in the making of The ChubbChubbs (2002), which won Best Animated Short at the 74th Academy Awards in 2002, and in Spider-man 2 (2004), which won Best Visual Effects at the 77th Academy Awards in 2005. He is now working for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, working for its feature animation nominating committee and recently got the nod to join a working group for the Science and Technology Council. He is also a member of The Television Academy’s Interactive Peer Group, The Visual Effects Society, ASIFA Hollywood, the International Photographers Guild and METAL, the Media, Entertainment and Technology Alliance. In this video, he talks about the background between visual effects and how motion picture and illusion are just one same thing. He said that movies are the ultimate platform for illusion because the creator what the audience see and how they see it.
I find this talk very interesting, especially when Levy shows the progression of visual effects from the early years to modern movies. The funny thing is, even when we see the visual effect from a movie from 40 years ago, we would probably still wondered how they did it.
7. Do 3D Moviegoers Enjoy Screenings More than 2D Moviegoers?–On the Impact of 3D Fantasy Movie Perception on Enjoyment
Sobieraj, Sabrina and Krämer, Nicole C “Do 3D Moviegoers Enjoy Screenings More than 2D Moviegoers?–On the Impact of 3D Fantasy Movie Perception on Enjoyment.” Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments, vol 23, Issue 4, Fall 2014, pp. 430-448.
This article that I found is an scholarly article written by Dr. Sabrina Sobieraj and Prof. Dr. Nicole Krämer, who are both professors at University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. This article talks about whether 3-D technology really makes people more enthusiast to watch the movie or not. In this article, the author used a very known movie that used 3-D technology for its production, James Cameron’s Avatar (2009). James Cameron is very well-know film director, and he inspired many other directors to incorporate technology into their own movies. I have attached a link to a Ted talk by him about what influenced him as a director. This article concluded that 3-D technology does not necessarily make people want to go to watch the movie, but it does help create the illusion of presence which excels the enjoyment of the audience.
Technology has yet again impacted cinema, and it is proven with James Cameron’s Avatar (2009). Avatar went on to become the highest grossing movie of all time. This shows how impactful technology can be if used correctly.
8. The VR Cinema
“The VR Cinema – About.” The VR Cinema, 13 June 2017, https://thevrcinema.com/about
After we discussed about the kinds of technology that has been used in movies, what’s next? There are many tech companies right now that are developing virtual reality technology, like Facebook, Sony, and Google are in a race to make the best virtual reality machine. These virtual reality machines could be used as a new way to view movies. Luckily, there is a startup in Amsterdam that has fulfilled that idea. The Virtual Reality Cinema is the world’s first cinema that uses virtual reality to watch movies. Even though the movies that you can watch are not blockbuster movies in usual cinemas, you can still appreciate the VR movies that they provide because the VR really made it into a wonderful experience. Being put in the virtual world as if you are inside the movie is going to be the new way we enjoy movies.
To be honest, you have to be at least be a little excited about the future of cinema knowing that Virtual Reality technology is getting better day by day, and the source that I am using is the direct source of the startup that is experimenting VR technology as a platform to watch movies and films.
9. Streaming Media
“Streaming Media.” Gale Encyclopedia of E-Commerce, edited by Laurie J. Fundukian, 2nd ed., vol. 2, Gale, 2012, pp. 701-703. Gale Virtual Reference Library,
In 2017, Manchester by The Sea became the first movie to be produced by an online streaming service that got nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It was a very big step from streaming service. Gale Virtual Reference Library is an online encyclopedia library that has a library of encyclopedias ranging from medicines to technology. In my research, I found an encyclopedia about E-Commerce, which is a booming new kind of business. One of the most successful E-Commerce is online media streaming, that includes videos, music, and many more. The online media streaming business has really shifted the way we distribute media. This part of the encyclopedia talks about the history of online streaming business and its early difficulties. It also talks about how one the online streaming giants, Netflix, came to be.
I find this article really helpful for my research because we can see how before technology distribution was physical, and when technology came in, the distribution became through the internet. The online media streaming business even made media rental business go bankrupt, just look at Blockbuster.
10. Inventing Entertainment: The Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies
“Inventing Entertainment: The Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies”, Library of Congress, 14th June 2017,
The Library of Congress is official library of the U.S. congress and is the de facto national library of the United States of America. The library does research on many sources, including direct sources, for example from the person itself, and indirect source, like an article about something. Then, the library puts it in a collection of articles and essay on one topic. The library’s purpose is to be an open legitimate source for everyone to enjoy and learn from.
This collection that I found at the Library of Congress talks about the history of early motion picture and how Thomas A. Edison influenced the technology of capturing motion. This collection is particularly interesting because sometimes we forget that motion picture itself is a result of technology innovation. The idea of capturing motion and presenting it to other people was unheard of before the discovery of photography. This collection reminds us that technology does not only affects the film industries, but it also gave birth to it.
Conclusion
Before doing this research, I feel like we take movies and videos for granted all the time because they are everywhere. You watch in a cinema, on your TV screen, on your phone, in your social media feed, and even on billboards. From its creation till now, we have seen many innovation in the techniques used to produce movies and videos. During my research, searching using the keyword “film” and “technology” does not really give you the exact article or source that you want to talk about, but after learning search techniques from my ENGL&102 class, every time I want to search something, I narrowed it down into specific sub-topics, like CGI, social media, animatronics, the context of motion picture, film’s influence in society, et cetera.
I find it really exciting that people has innovated so many technology that really has an impact on society, and we should continue to learn from mistakes to innovate more technologies and integrated in our works, including making films and movies. From the amazing performance by Andy Serkis as Golumm, to how they made a tyrannosaurus rex alive in the big screen, and how 3-D technology affects the audience, we can thank all this to people that has worked hard to innovate those technology and let other people use it to make wonders in cinema. After doing this research I realized how impactful technology is in the process of making motion picture.
Technology and Culture 