Technological Changes
Technology has been rapidly evolving and this has meant significant changes to the film production process at any level. This has made a significant effect and impact on the film industry and the audience that is consuming the media which is being produced.
I think the biggest impact that evolving technology has had on the film industry would be revolving around the change from film to digital. Different film makers are for an against the development in filming, all for different arguments. They all surround the main stages of movie making though- Production, Distribution, Marketing ad Consumption.
The directors that are for film and don't want to modernise with digital cameras are reluctant to leave the 'magic' of shooting with film. The process of production with film cameras is a lot more technical than filming with digital also, this is how it is filmed:
The camera is the tool that focuses and measures the photons of light and records them as images. With a film camera, light enters through the lense and hits a frame of film behind the lens. The film is covered with an emulsion that contains grains of silver halide crystals. These crystals react chemically when light hits them, and the crystals change into silver metal when they are developed. A photographic image is formed on the film and then is taken to the warehouse where it is developed.
The actual shooting with the equipment is very difficult and was described by one of the directors on Keanu Reeves' Documentary 'Side By Side'
' The work flow on a film set basically means that you take thousand-foot loads of film, load it into magazines, and that enables you to shoot for roughly ten- plus minutes per roll of film.' There's a cut and then you reload the camera. This 'gives you a natural break in the action while someone pulls the magazine off the camera and puts a new magazine on. And then the next day, you get to see the dailies.' The dailies was when every morning before going to shoot, after the film magazines had come back from the lab, and you'd sit down with your team and there was a certain 'joy' about watching what you had done the previous day, and figuring out what you got to do on the current day.
There was some major downsides to this however. Very often, directors will say that when they filmed on film, they would lie awake at night wondering if they even got any usable footage because you can't actually see what you are filming through out the day.
People use it for the 'feel' and the art that is involved in shooting with film, not for the cost, or the amount of time it takes to film on.
Digital is much easier to shoot on, as it isn't necessary to change over any magazine, so you don't have to have any unnecessary breaks in the action. There is a lot less gear to carry around also, so shooting in unique places isn't as hard as it used to be. Digital is also more realistic to film, as it has no granules and is a LOT easier to edit as it can be done on a computer as opposed to actually cutting and pasting different shots together. Digital is also the 'trending aesthetic' and digital effects have made films much more innovative than the ever where in film magazine days, some think.
Many directors describe the introduction of digital as being 'exciting' for them, and says the introduction of digital took directing and making movies as art 'out of a rarified environment, and allows people to make art.'
The cost of using digital cameras to shoot has been recognised by several people who are high up i the camera market. Tom Rotham, Chairman and CEO of Fox, said that in digital there is 'tremendous possible savings' and Bill Russell Vice President of Arri Cameras said 'Film production peaked in 2007... then the world changed. New purchases are all digital.' Since cameras aren't nearly as expensive as they were even 20 years ago, indie film makers, and up and coming directors have been able to film there independent movies, and the rise in films being shown at Sundance and other festivals has increased expedentially.
The other argument that seems to still be on going between directors and producers from different eras is whether or not film is dying. Some directors say 'Film is not dead because people still like to film on shoot on film because it has that incredible beautiful look' while others argue 'All major manufacturers have ceased development of new film cameras. They no longer make them.' so they reckon that film is dead for those reasons.
In regards to distribution, film reels had to physically be shipped to every cinema it was to be shown at which took time and money and had to be very gently handled, whereas nowadays, digital films can be sent a number of different ways including by over the internet, through different satellite links, or by sending optical discs or hardware discs such as blu-ray.The ways it has been distribute even reflect the change in technology as the web 2.0 has been developed. This can be for good and for bad. Movies can be streamed off different VOD's such as Netflix and Hulu, but piracy is also another issue that films encounter as they are distributed online.
Piracy has a massive affect on the profit received from movies as people will stay at home and illegally download the movie as opposed to renting it or going to see it in the cinema. A report from industry analysis Digital TV research suggested the amount of money lost to piracy has grown substantially form $6.7 billion dollars in 2010 to nearly $31.8 billion last year. The figure has been predicted to hit $52 billion in 2022. Among the movies which have been pirated the highest number of times are: Joker, Jojo Rabbit, Jumanji The Next Level, Charlie's Angels (2019), Parasite, and Frozen 2. Box Office made $43.5 Billion dollars last year, and since the Box Office has estimated its yearly loss to piracy at $10 Billion, they miss out on a quater of their total profit being added to the sum. This means that all the directors, producers, editors etc are losing out on substantially on profit because of illegal downloading and streaming.
I think the biggest impact that evolving technology has had on the film industry would be revolving around the change from film to digital. Different film makers are for an against the development in filming, all for different arguments. They all surround the main stages of movie making though- Production, Distribution, Marketing ad Consumption.
The directors that are for film and don't want to modernise with digital cameras are reluctant to leave the 'magic' of shooting with film. The process of production with film cameras is a lot more technical than filming with digital also, this is how it is filmed:
The camera is the tool that focuses and measures the photons of light and records them as images. With a film camera, light enters through the lense and hits a frame of film behind the lens. The film is covered with an emulsion that contains grains of silver halide crystals. These crystals react chemically when light hits them, and the crystals change into silver metal when they are developed. A photographic image is formed on the film and then is taken to the warehouse where it is developed.
The actual shooting with the equipment is very difficult and was described by one of the directors on Keanu Reeves' Documentary 'Side By Side'
' The work flow on a film set basically means that you take thousand-foot loads of film, load it into magazines, and that enables you to shoot for roughly ten- plus minutes per roll of film.' There's a cut and then you reload the camera. This 'gives you a natural break in the action while someone pulls the magazine off the camera and puts a new magazine on. And then the next day, you get to see the dailies.' The dailies was when every morning before going to shoot, after the film magazines had come back from the lab, and you'd sit down with your team and there was a certain 'joy' about watching what you had done the previous day, and figuring out what you got to do on the current day.
There was some major downsides to this however. Very often, directors will say that when they filmed on film, they would lie awake at night wondering if they even got any usable footage because you can't actually see what you are filming through out the day.
People use it for the 'feel' and the art that is involved in shooting with film, not for the cost, or the amount of time it takes to film on.
Digital is much easier to shoot on, as it isn't necessary to change over any magazine, so you don't have to have any unnecessary breaks in the action. There is a lot less gear to carry around also, so shooting in unique places isn't as hard as it used to be. Digital is also more realistic to film, as it has no granules and is a LOT easier to edit as it can be done on a computer as opposed to actually cutting and pasting different shots together. Digital is also the 'trending aesthetic' and digital effects have made films much more innovative than the ever where in film magazine days, some think.
Many directors describe the introduction of digital as being 'exciting' for them, and says the introduction of digital took directing and making movies as art 'out of a rarified environment, and allows people to make art.'
The cost of using digital cameras to shoot has been recognised by several people who are high up i the camera market. Tom Rotham, Chairman and CEO of Fox, said that in digital there is 'tremendous possible savings' and Bill Russell Vice President of Arri Cameras said 'Film production peaked in 2007... then the world changed. New purchases are all digital.' Since cameras aren't nearly as expensive as they were even 20 years ago, indie film makers, and up and coming directors have been able to film there independent movies, and the rise in films being shown at Sundance and other festivals has increased expedentially.
The other argument that seems to still be on going between directors and producers from different eras is whether or not film is dying. Some directors say 'Film is not dead because people still like to film on shoot on film because it has that incredible beautiful look' while others argue 'All major manufacturers have ceased development of new film cameras. They no longer make them.' so they reckon that film is dead for those reasons.
In regards to distribution, film reels had to physically be shipped to every cinema it was to be shown at which took time and money and had to be very gently handled, whereas nowadays, digital films can be sent a number of different ways including by over the internet, through different satellite links, or by sending optical discs or hardware discs such as blu-ray.The ways it has been distribute even reflect the change in technology as the web 2.0 has been developed. This can be for good and for bad. Movies can be streamed off different VOD's such as Netflix and Hulu, but piracy is also another issue that films encounter as they are distributed online.
Piracy has a massive affect on the profit received from movies as people will stay at home and illegally download the movie as opposed to renting it or going to see it in the cinema. A report from industry analysis Digital TV research suggested the amount of money lost to piracy has grown substantially form $6.7 billion dollars in 2010 to nearly $31.8 billion last year. The figure has been predicted to hit $52 billion in 2022. Among the movies which have been pirated the highest number of times are: Joker, Jojo Rabbit, Jumanji The Next Level, Charlie's Angels (2019), Parasite, and Frozen 2. Box Office made $43.5 Billion dollars last year, and since the Box Office has estimated its yearly loss to piracy at $10 Billion, they miss out on a quater of their total profit being added to the sum. This means that all the directors, producers, editors etc are losing out on substantially on profit because of illegal downloading and streaming.
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