The impact of technology on filmmaking
Advances in technology have had a significant impact on movie production in recent decades. These have mostly come about with the advent of...
Question
What are the impacts of technology innovation on producing good movies?
Answer
Advances in technology have had a significant impact on movie production in recent decades. These have mostly come about with the advent of digital technology in both sound and video production and reproduction. These technologies range from digital cameras and sound recorders to digital editing software, effects software, and high-resolution digital projectors.
One of the notable advantages of digital film is that it has made it possible to get immediate feedback when shots are made. When using traditional film cameras, it is not until the reel is complete and the film is developed that the results can be viewed. This can make it very inconvenient and expensive to rectify mistakes that are made while filming. In contrast, a digital shot can be immediately played back on the set and re-shot if this is required.
Another advantage of digital formats is that they are much easier to manipulate after the fact. A range of powerful software is available that can work with digital film to introduce computer generated imagery, create composite shots or edit shots together more easily. This provides more flexibility to filmmakers and allows them to do things that never would have been possible (or affordable) using traditional film techniques.
There is also a cost implication to the introduction of digital technologies. While high-end digital cameras cost a lot more than traditional film cameras, they eliminate the cost of the film stock itself, which is a significant expense over the course of a production. At the lower end of the market, digital technology significantly improves the quality of movies that are produced on a budget; cheap digital film cameras are considerably better than the budget cameras that were used before the advent of digital – the handheld VHS camera. This has, to some extent, had the effect of levelling the playing field – allowing smaller filmmakers the opportunity to be taken more seriously.