Stories have been the best source of entertainment. Regardless of being fictional or non-fictional, if a story is good it will get the audience hooked. The highest grosser of all time like Avengers, Star Trek, and Star Wars had one thing in common, which was the method of storytelling. These movies leveraged the modern tech and combined it with entertainment to deliver the excellent product of media. Just like it has for a lot of other industries, technology has completely changed the film industry – from the ways movies get made, to how they are edited, to the ways audiences watch them. Technology has simplified life for everyone involved in making a movie. Technology has taken the film industry from silent, black-and-white films to high-definition movies that are capable of making the audience feel as if they are there, in only a short period of time. Some of these technological changes will make it easier for filmmakers to execute their visions while challenging the structure of the industry itself.
The Technological Innovators Who Made It All Possible
Francis Ronalds in 1845 created a device in which a photosensitive surface was drawn slowly past the aperture diaphragm of the camera by a clockwork mechanism to enable continuous recording over a period of 12-24 hours. The camera was introduced initially for the use of scientific observations, but it helped in other fields too. The first-ever recorded motion picture was Race Horse which was broadcasted in1878. Multiple cameras were used to film the footage, which was the most challenging task, later these footages were combined into a single short video i.e. visual of men riding the horses. This was the start of black and white cinematography. Through the development of cameras, the storytelling reached new heights. Today film-making utilizes tools like editing, camera movement, camera angle, and other methods that improve the narration of the story.
The other thing that technology introduced to the world of cinema was special effects. As the technology evolved, screening of the first short motion picture with audio was presented in 1923. Besides, the movie with actors speaking on-screen was “The Jazz Singer” of 1927. The most remarkable part of that era was the motion pictures of Charlie Chaplin. The Humor and the storytelling still crack us up.
Introduction of Color Technology in Films
One ordinary looking camera changed the way we watched the movies. The Front Page, It happened One Night, The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind are just a few names that were considered great at that time. Later with the introduction of color-cinema the movie-making business upgraded and got better. The technique utilized was Technicolor technique that required a triple photographic immersion, and incorporation of chromatic filters. The first-ever movie that was made using this technique was Walt Disney’s ‘Flower and Trees’. Everything was smooth and industry is growing rapidly, the first major competition of the movie industry came with the introduction of television shows. Primarily cinema halls were the only source of entertainment but later with introduction of television shows, it provided people with an alternative. The first-ever televised show was “The Queens’s Messenger” in 1928 which was televised on four television sets in the United States of America.
The Era of Computer Graphics and Its Influence
The television and film industry through the course of time became companions from competitors. The TV was there for daily need of entertainment and movies fulfill the need for larger than life experience. Both are part of our lives and you will rarely find a house without a television and a human being not interested in movies. Later, the use of computer graphics has made movies and TV shows much more visually attractive. In 1973 the 2D CGI was used in movie West World and in its sequel Future World 3D technique was used to create a hand and a face. The movies such as Terminator, Back to the Future, Alien and many more became successful because of highly evolved computer graphics and this was only 80’s. It got to the next level in the movie Jurassic Park. It was one of the most visually attractive movies of that decade that did show actual dinosaurs in natural surroundings. In addition, the movie of the century ‘Avatar’ was a masterpiece of visual effects and would not have been possible without next-gen computer system and computer graphics.
Combination of Next-Tech and Movies is Promising
Introduction of the digital movie cameras made it easier to shoot a movie. Previously cameras use to have reels that would capture the scenes. The digital camera not only made filming easier but it made editing smoother and the picture quality also got improved. The widespread use of digital camera began not before the mid-2010s when the widespread use of these digital movie cameras began.
To summarize, every stage of technological revolution played its part making movies more enjoyable for us, the future looks bright too with the introduction of Autonomous Drones, 4K plus 3D technology, Algorithm Editing and Artificial Intelligence in entertainment industry is ready to leapfrog it into the future. It all started with a camera and look where it got us. It makes us laugh, cry and ignite our untouched emotions and we all want to be part of this epic journey which will go on and on.
