Technology has been transforming various industries ranging from healthcare, eCommerce, retail, media, education, and manufacturing to all industry niches imaginable.
Similarly, technology has brought a paradigm shift in the film industry as well. From the way the film is shot to post-production and editing to distribution and marketing, the technology is providing a much-needed edge to the film industry.
The use of technology has improved the qualitative aspects of moviemaking, as advanced technologies ensure engaging and crisp visuals, enhanced sound effects, easier editing tools, and digital film distribution, which helps offer an enriched movie experience to the viewers.
From the viewer’s perspective, technological change is very much visible. Moviegoers can avail the of innovative screening interfaces like 3D spectacles, VR headgears, IMAX, 7D, and many more.
Viewers can watch movies on OTT platforms such as Amazon Prime, Netflix, YouTube, and several others. The movie-making business is now multifaceted, and technology has only simplified it and expanded the scope of filmmaking, film watching, and other business activities.
Technology has transformed the fundamentals of Filmmaking
Film making is an exhausting process, that demands collaborated efforts of too many skilled professionals, artists, and technicians.
It also involves huge development costs and other technical aspects including IP (intellectual property) rights. With the evolution of digital technology, we have seen transformational changes in almost every aspect of filmmaking.
Film Shooting
Digital cameras have changed the filmmaking process. With the help of large format sensor cameras and lenses, we can easily shoot movies with a high frame rate in extra sharp 4K, 8K, or HD format.
Photographers can experiment using multiple angle cameras and a variety of controls to obtain the required colour scheme, light scheme, saturation, etc. A digital camera also allows photographers to shoot in real-time and rectify any mistakes immediately.
Production Cost
Technology has indeed helped filmmakers to reduce the overall cost of filmmaking. Filmmakers can shoot, edit, preserve and store the digital copies of their movies, which costs quite less if we compare with the raw material films.
The use of digital cameras and other technologies helps produce a movie in lesser time than conventional film cameras. The digital format also enables filmmakers to complete their schedules in less time with almost negligible waste, thus keeping the project cost under control.
Editing
Editing comes in the post-production stage, where Digital technology helps the editors to work on multiple sections and piece them together to make a clean movie.
We have numerous film-editing software, where editors can easily combine the film clips, sound clips, special effects, CGI, and various other treatments to the raw file.
With the use of digital technology, the editor can make an unlimited number of errors and fix them to fetch a much cleaner output.
Preservation
The preservation of conventional films used to be very cumbersome and expensive, along with many logistical challenges.
Digital movies have mitigated all such concerns as now we need a few gigabytes of storage space instead of large physical storage of the film.
Digital copies of movies can be stored on servers at a fractional cost of storing the physical films.
Film Distribution
Digital technology has enabled filmmakers to distribute their movies to a larger audience with almost no additional cost.
Filmmakers can distribute their movies on OTT platforms to tap the audiences beyond the traditional theatres and multiplexes.
The movie rights can be distributed to the consumers digitally, which opens the exhilarating new world of film distribution.
Innovative Technologies taking Filmmaking to the next level
The film making has been revolutionised with the usage of state-of-the-art technologies. We can see how advanced gadgets, innovative audiovisual techniques, hardware, and applications have been used to deliver enthralling visuals with ease.
3D and 4K-8K Technology
3D effects coupled with 4K technology have transformed the experience of sci-fi movies and action dramas.
Filmmakers can use Lucid camera, VR technology, and high-definition formats to shoot 3Dimensional videos with 4k or 8K resolution.
This technology helps filmmakers to shoot underwater scenes, multiple angles, and high-octane action scenes to deliver an immersive experience to the viewers.
Drones
Gone are the days when low-flying aircraft or helicopters were used to shoot panoramic or bird’s eye-view scenes. However, those shots used to come at a high cost along with stabilisation issues.
The drones came as a very useful and handy technology, that enable the filmmakers to obtain such shots with fewer complications and at a very less cost.
Drones could be used to shoot high-fidelity action scenes with finesse, and that’s why drones have become the preferred alternative to aircraft and helicopters.
Multi-Dimensional Movie Technology
You may remember how we used to watch 3D movies in the early ’90s using paper-made 3D glasses.
Since then, we have seen an incremental change in multi-dimensional movie technology. We have reached a stage where the 3D viewing experience is viable without any external gadget or spectacle.
Now we have moved to 7D or 8D movies, where viewers can experience computer- controlled swing, shake, fall, rise, spray water, air, and other special effects. Multi-dimensional technologies let the audience enjoy the visual, auditory, dynamic, and tactile aspects of the movie.
Dual Camera Virtual Reality
Dual Camera VR is an innovative film shooting technology, that brings the real world into the VR realm.
In this technology, one camera shoots the movie characters, while another one can shoot the surroundings and environment. When we integrate both visuals with Virtual Reality, it gives an immersive 360-degree viewing experience to the viewer.
AI aided smart screenplay writing
Well, we have discussed the role of technology in filmmaking which offers a brilliant audiovisual experience to the viewers.
But, do you know that technology could be used to write screenplays and dialogues as well? We do have a couple of AI software that can write screenplays, dialogues, or even songs for you. A New York-based research institution has developed an AI-powered robot called Benjamin, which has been trained with thousands of songs, and it can write a full-fledged song without any external assistance.
The days are not far when AI robots or software will be able to write movie scripts and screenplays as well.
Conclusion
It is captivating to see how technology is influencing the filmmaking industry. Right from the film shooting to the projection onto the silver screen, it is the technology that is driving the user experience.
There is no doubt that technology will keep transforming the filmmaking and viewer experience more than ever before.
The use of advanced visualisation techniques, innovative gadgets, filmmaking software, and other tools will help filmmakers to keep experimenting with this art and offer an enthralling and immersive experience to moviegoers.
Saurabh Sharma is a Digital Marketing Executive at Arka Softwares, a leading web & mobile app development company. He has 2 years of experience in the Information Technology industry. He spends his time reading about new trends in Digital Marketing and the latest app development technologies.
