INSTITUTIONS AND AUDIENCES

FILM INDUSTRY
LESSON 13
NEW TECHNOLOGY IN
PRODUCTION
 THURDAY
TIME: 3.45PM
PLACE: ROOM 63
 AIMS
• Understand what is meant by the term ‘New Media
Technology’ and how it is different to old media
technology

• Understand how New Media Technology has

revolutionised the way in which films are produced.

• Understand how New Media Technology in production has

impacted on audiences.
 TECHNOLOGICAL CONVERGENCE
• Get out your mobile phone:

• Explore it’s functions.

How does it allow you to be a media producer?

How does it allow you to be a media consumer?

 HOMEWORK TASK
Research one of the following areas of film production:
-Cinematography & Sound
-Editing
-Special effects & Graphics

Your research should be posted to your blog and include the following:
-How that process was completed 30 years ago (before digital technology)
-How that process has been revolutionised today by digital technology
-The types of digital technology available today to complete that process (as many as
possible)
-How technological convergence has revolutionised that area for institutions
-How new media technology in that area has impacted on audiences

It should be presented as a detailed blog post (no less than 800 words) although it
can be presented as bullet-points or even a time-line.
It must make use of a variety of different sources – credit all the information you find
You must include a range of images/videos and an attractive presentation style.
You must link to the two other people in your group’s work

Due Sunday 8pm

 WHAT IS
NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGY?
• New media technology is a term meant to
encompass the emergence of digital, computerized,
or networked information and communication
technologies in the later part of the 20th century.

• Most technologies described as "new media" are

digital. This is simply a quicker, smaller, more
efficient and compressed form of data-storage when
compared with older analogue methods.

Q: What digital/new media technologies can you think

of that are used in the production of films?
OLD MEDIA TECHNOLOGY?
Before the introduction of digital technology all films were shot on
film cameras like this one. The film would be recorded onto big reels
of 8mm, 16mm or 35mm film.

Once the filming was completed, it

would be editing on a machine like
this one (a moviola). The editor would
literally have to cut and paste the
film together frame by frame.

Special effects were primitive and had to be created by the props

department. They often looked very unrealistic, barely representing
reality.

Producing a film before New Media Technology was far more time
consuming and expensive.
Q: Why?
 CAMERA –
DIGITAL CINEMATOGRAPHY
Digital cinematography has only established itself in the
last 10 years. Instead of recording to film the footage can be
recorded onto tape, hard disk or memory stick – as long as
the camera is digital.

The first major Hollywood film to be recorded entirely digitally

was Star Wars Episode II in 2002. Since then films such as Sin
City and Superman Returns have used this technology.

A number of Film 4 films have also made use of digital

cinematography – including 2002’s 24 Hour Party People.
 CAMERA
HD & 3D
HD video is an upgraded version of digital
video. It has a higher resolution (meaning
more DPI or dots per inch). By having a
higher DPI the picture quality is far higher
than normal DV and retains a higher
quality picture on a large screen. However,
whilst being far easier to edit, even the
highest quality HD DV is not as clear as a
35mm or 70mm film.

There has also been a resurgence in 3D

film-making over the last ten years. New
digital techniques, using a combination of
very HD DV and high quality film stock
have produced better 3D effects than ever
before. There is now a move towards
‘glasses-free’ 3D viewing, which using a
trick of the mind creates almost
holographic images.
 ADVANTAGES FOR THE FILM INDUSTRY
• Portability – Digital cameras are far less bulky and difficult to transport than a
traditional film camera. They are also far more manoeuvrable when shooting.

• Sound Recording – Film cameras require sound to be recorded separately (hence

the invention of clapper-boards to match sound to visuals). Digital cameras can
record sound internally, halving the amount of equipment needed to record a film.

• Budget – Traditional 16mm or 35mm film is incredibly expensive – to buy a decent

film camera and the stock (tape) to shoot a film costs at least $50,000. In contrast
digital tape is incredibly cheap, as are digital cameras and a professional film
could be easily shot for under $10,000 using digital methods. Rick McCallum, a
producer on Star Wars Episode II, states that the production spent $16,000 for 220
hours of digital tape, where a comparable amount of film would have cost $1.8
million.

• Ease of editing – Digital editing is today used as the industry standard. Digital
video is far easier to capture – especially if stored to a hard drive – and far easier
to manipulate (add special effects and CGI).
 CAMERA –
DIGITAL CINEMATOGRAPHY
• How would the growth of digital cinematography have helped
companies like Film 4?

• How would a Hollywood studio use digital video in a different

way to an independent production company?

• Some high-profile film-makers, including Stephen Spielberg,

have vowed to never use digital cinematography, preferring
to stick with traditional analogue formats. Why would some
film-makers, especially those in Hollywood, take this stance?
 EDITING – NON LINEAR EDITING
Non-linear or digital editing computer-generates a
virtual editing environment, allowing the editor to
edit the film in any order they choose. This is unlike
traditional linear methods which require the editor
to literally cut and paste film sequences into a ‘line’.

Programmes like Avid, Final Cut and I-Movie have revolutionised

film editing. Rather than a large, expensive machine editing now
only requires a reasonably high-spec PC or MAC.

Production companies from the lowest budget independents to

major Hollywood Studios use digital editing programmes on
almost all their productions, which now include a variety of other
features which allow the editor to manipulate the visuals and
audio.
 ADVANTAGES FOR THE FILM INDUSTRY
• Time – It is far quicker to edit a film using a digital editing programme, saving
companies money on the amount of time they need to stay in post-production.

• Convenience – Digital editing programmes allow the editor to assemble

sequences, correct mistakes, copy frames and add effects at the touch of a button.

• Portability – Rather than requiring a large, metal machine, digital editing can be
done on any PC or MAC with a high-spec and a digital editing programme.

• Cost – Linear film-editing machines were expensive to manufacture and maintain,

with access usually limited to those in the film industry. An industry standard
digital editing suite can be assembled for as little as £2000 – the cost of a high-
spec PC, good quality speakers and a professional level digital editing
programme.
 EDITING – NON LINEAR EDITING

• How would the growth of digital editing have helped

companies like Film 4?

• How might editing actually be made more difficult or

complicated by using a computer programme?

• Even today, many professional editors begin their

careers with some training in traditional, linear
editing. Why would this be?
 SPECIAL EFFECTS - CGI
Computer-generated imagery or CGI is the application of the field of computer
graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in
films. The effects (characters, locations) are created on a computer using a
virtual wireframe and then manipulated by the animator.

The first major use of CGI came in 1991’s Terminator II:

Judgement Day. Using CGI the T-1000 was shown to melt into
liquid and morph into a variety of different people and
shapes.

Today, virtually all special effects are created with CGI. This
includes The Lord of The Rings Trilogy, which used CGI to
create it’s epic battle scenes, Middle Earth and Gollum. James
Cameron has taken CGI a step further by computer animating
not only his sets but also his actors using motion capture
suits.
 ADVANTAGES FOR THE FILM INDUSTRY
• Manipulability – Computer characters can be made to do anything within
the animator’s imagination. Before CGI, special effects were created by
the set or prop departments and had to be manually operated, limited by
the abilities of the operator and laws of physics!

• Cost/Convenience – Extras or even main characters can now be computer

animated, saving money and effort in finding and managing people to
actors in a film. Furthermore, a single animator can now create far more
fantastical visions than a whole props team could have in the past.

• Increased Verisimilitude – In the past special effects and sets could

easily be identified as fake. With today’s technology it’s near impossible
to distinguish between real and computer-generated elements of films,
allowing film-makers to realise their vision far more effectively.
 SPECIAL EFFECTS - CGI

• If CGI has been so revolutionary, how can you explain

why independent production companies like Film 4
so infrequently use it?

• Can you think of any downsides for production

companies with the increase in CGI?
 IMPACT ON AUDIENCE?
• How will the use of digital technology have impacted on how
audiences experience films?

• How has the proliferation and relatively low cost of digital

production equipment blurred the lines between film
audiences and film producers?

• How might the internet allow film audiences to influence films

whilst they are still production, in a way they would never have
been able to before?

• Can you think of any negative comments film audiences could

make about the digital revolution in film-making?
 RECAP
• How has New Media Technology revolutionised the
following elements of film production:
- Cinematography
- Editing
- Special Effects

• What are the drawbacks?

• How has New Media Technology in film production

impacted on film audiences?