Digital Technologys Impact On The Film Industry Media Essay

Digital technology in the last decade has completely transformed the film industry. Focusing on the key methods of film making and the impact that technology has had on each area, this editorial will look at recent modifications in the pre-production part of film making, followed by a look at the new equipment and storage facilities being used by modern filmmakers. Film distribution and the negative impacts that technology has had on the field, particularly on the illegal sale and piracy of copyrighted material is investigated. Post-theatre film distribution and the changing breakthrough technologies in this field are explored to look at the constant changes in education and training of professionals in the film industry. Computer generated graphics and its increasing impact on the film industry is covered, and the future of the industry is predicted.

Digital tools and technology have altered the script writing process by making use of the internet and digital editing tools. The internet is being used by scriptwriters to forward their scripts to directors and potential cast members but it also caters for peer reviews by way of online forums (Huang 2004). There has been a significant increase in the last decade in the use of digital video cameras for low-budget film shooting along with higher definition video which is set to match and go beyond the standard 35 mm film both in the quality and flexibility (Culkin & Randle 2003, p.5). The post production phase of film making has arguably been the most significantly impacted by new trends in technology. The introduction of non-linear technology has made the use of hand edited films inefficient, and too time consuming. This process, created by Avid, involves piecing together the film in a virtual environment where both the director and editor view the output on a screen (Culkin & Randle 2003, p.8).

The entire process of filmmaking has been digitalized, everything from the distribution to the projection of films to audiences. However, the lack of standards and commercial agreements between distributors and exhibitors has slowed down the conversion to digital technologies. For example, only 170 cinemas around the world have converted to what is known as high-end digital (Culkin & Randle 2003, p.9). Profit margins for movie studios are reported to be decreasing, now being outnumbered by the video game industry. Satellite delivery of feature films to cinemas have recently made its debut and reports indicate that upon full implementation of using this method of film distribution can save the film industry in excess of $700 million per annum (Markman & Vega 2001, p. 1).

A major downside for the film industry is that recent technological breakthroughs have made the piracy of copyrighted material very affordable. Primarily for music and film content, this has lead to some major lawsuits against peer-to-peer networks and individuals as a result of the copying and distribution of these materials. This is one of the film industries main issues it will have to overcome when the public has access to this low cost copying equipment (peer-to-peer networks, DVD and CD writers). Suffice to say that it has never been so easy for frauds or even honest users to created perfect versatile copies of films (Markman & Vega 2001, p.1).

However, the film industry has attempted to decrease the risk of ¿½pirates¿½ copying movies by creating the Content Scrambling System (CSS). With this encryption algorithm, only authentic DVD products which contain the decryption algorithm can play the movie. This technology rearranges the audio and video on the DVD so that only a DVD with its decryption algorithm can play the film correctly. It was also created to prevent users from copying data from DVDs. However, not long after a Norwegian teenage boy reverse engineered a DVD player which contained the decryption algorithm, cracked the CSS code and uploaded the decryption software for users around the world to use (Markman & Vega 2001, p.2).

The post-theatre market accounts roughly for three quarters of a film¿½s profits during its lifetime. The largest of these are video rental stores which account for nearly half of all proceeds. The DVD has completely changed the industry, becoming the fastest growing consumer electronics item of all time (Culkin & Randle 2003, p.5). DVD¿½s have undoubtedly increased movie studios¿½ income when it decided to provide content to the home end consumer with incredible sound and picture quality which does not degrade like ordinary VHS cassettes (Markman & Vega 2001, p.2). A new and rapidly growing area in the distribution market is ¿½Movie-on-demand¿½. This is where consumers download movies over the internet instead of going down to their local video store. The advantage of this technology is clear: no late fees and no inconvenience for traveling (Culkin & Randle 2003, p.17).

Rapid modifications in the film industry in recent years have forced many professionals in the audio and visual industries to acquire new and specialized skills. This is an ongoing process in some industries, one example is that the post-production industries are required to have constant upgrades of tools and software which leads to continual re-training of staff which in turns increase production costs (Culkin & Randle 2003, p.18).

Future allocations might involve allowing editors in different countries to edit film by accessing digitized media on a server without actually leaving the comfort of his or her house or office. The same will be possible for all kinds of sound editing (Bishop, Case, Axarlis, Plante & Allsop 2000). Satellite distributions to cinemas are at the forefront of future film distributions. George Lucas, the author and director of the Star Wars series, is preparing to use satellite technology to display the next episode in cinemas. This process of digitally distributing and exhibiting the film through data projectors are known as E-Cinema. Inexpensive and flexible distribution is the main advantage of this process; however Cinemas will have to acquire substantial expenses when converting from film to digital projection. This technology is very much still in the development stage and the impact that E-Cinema will have on film making is not yet clear (Bishop, Case, Axarlis, Plante & Allsop 2000).

Gregory Huang¿½s article entitled ¿½The New Face of Hollywood¿½ examines the advancement in computer animated graphics in the past year. Recent blockbuster movies like Spiderman 3 and Beowulf are good examples of how far computer generated graphics have come in recent years. The film industry has progressed into a stage whereby every single event during the film making process can be computer generated (Sagar in Huang 2004). In the past, digital representations of faces have not looked ¿½real¿½ when one looked at it closely as it is a lot easier to make non-human objects like dinosaurs ¿½real¿½; however, advances in rendering human skin, lighting digital scenes and examining human actors are now allowing animation engineers to control the texture and movement of every little square of pixels in an animated skin. Huang (2004) reports that an average budget for a blockbuster movie is approximately $150 million where it is not uncommon to see more than 50% of funding allocated to computer generated effects.

It is clear that there has not been one area within the film industry that has not been at least somewhat impacted by technology over the last 5 years. The major impacts for pre-production stage have been the development of script-writing tools as well as the increased use of the internet to distribute scripts to directors and other interested parties. Generally equipment costs have reduced while at the same time quality and flexibility of the products have dramatically increased. The birth of non-linear technology has all but made hand edited films an extinct specie and fast-tracked the whole editing process (Culkin & Randle 2003, p.5). Major advancements have been made with satellite distributions to cinemas recently making its debut. The major concern with improving technologies for end-users is that it has become extremely easy for consumers to copy copyrighted material and suffice to say that is arguably one of the biggest battles the film industry will face during the coming years (Markman & Vega 2001, p.2). DVD¿½s are the leading technology in the post-theatre film market, with ¿½Movies-on-demand¿½ set to explode exponentially over the coming years (Culkin & Randle 2003, p.17). Finally this article examined the amazing advances in computer generated effects in films the past year, and today the industry has reached a stage where every conceivable scene can be computer generated if resources are committed to achieve the desired goal. Technology is set to continue to revolutionize the film industry for many years to come (Huang 2004).