FLM110.3 BLOG
TOPIC 11
Do you think technology has eroded the craft of film storytelling (spectacle is more important than a solid narrative)?
Everything evolves and so is film, from cameras to drones, special effects to CGI and from 3D to Laser!
I think a good story is still needed with a good technology, having a movie with perfect CGI but with a very typical story is just useless.
Afonso, A. (2017). A referenciação em textos do YouTube: um estudo com vistas à análise de sentimentos | Referenciation in YouTube Texts: a study for Sentiment Analysis. Liinc Em Revista, 13(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.18617/liinc.v13i2.3933
TOPIC 11
Do you think technology has eroded the craft of film storytelling (spectacle is more important than a solid narrative)?
Everything evolves and so is film, from cameras to drones, special effects to CGI and from 3D to Laser!
("Avant Garde Cinema | Experimental Films | Avant Garde Collection", 2018)
My Answer to the Question above:
I think a good story is still needed with a good technology, having a movie with perfect CGI but with a very typical story is just useless.
For example I watched Valerian, for the CGI, the amount of brightness and color and flashy detail was magnificent. It was a real pleasure to the eye but, the story was just so 'flat' I really didn't care what was currently happening and what will happen next. That's why in my own opinion I think a great amount of technology will still need a greater story to be attached to it and it also depend on the director and the cast and how they'll treat the technology in the film.
Here's a look at the type of CGI used in valerian, too powerful but at the same time it's too distracting, leaving the viewers far away from the actual story.
Here's a look at the type of CGI used in valerian, too powerful but at the same time it's too distracting, leaving the viewers far away from the actual story.
(Afonso, 2017)
Or another example, when the film 'city of life' came out, it made a lot of noise not just because it was the first cinematic Emirati film but also because of how high the technology used in that film, on the other hand the plot was so common and typical and some of the acting was a bit out of the line.
As a developing filmmaker, I'd love to make all kinds of films. With both strong CGI and with very traditional special effects mixing between modern and traditional technology but it should all be under a very proper story and cast. But i also would love to create gimmicks for my movies, something to surprise the audiences with when they're watching my movie at the cinema because in the end it's all for the purpose of entertainment.
For my current projects i do mix between very traditional technology and modern, for a scene i would shoot it outside at the park but without any editing but for the next scene i'll shoot it in front of a green screen with a lot of editing that's how balanced i want it all to be.
For my current projects i do mix between very traditional technology and modern, for a scene i would shoot it outside at the park but without any editing but for the next scene i'll shoot it in front of a green screen with a lot of editing that's how balanced i want it all to be.
One of my all time idols William Castle made movies from the 1940's to the late 1960's, all of his movies were in black and white and he didn't just depend on special effects in his films but he delivered them to his audience at the cinema such as his screenings for 'the house on the haunted hill' had a plastic skeleton flying above the audiences while the movie was still playing (Squires, 2018). I think in his time if he had the technology we have today he would've used a hologram of a skeleton floating around instead of a plastic skeleton.
(Squires, 2018)
References:
Avant Garde Cinema | Experimental Films | Avant Garde Collection. (2018). Straight From a Movie. Retrieved 1 May 2018, from http://straightfromamovie.com/avant-garde-cinema-experimental-films/
Afonso, A. (2017). A referenciação em textos do YouTube: um estudo com vistas à análise de sentimentos | Referenciation in YouTube Texts: a study for Sentiment Analysis. Liinc Em Revista, 13(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.18617/liinc.v13i2.3933
Squires, J. (2018). William Castle Made Horror Movies So Much Fun - Bloody Disgusting. Bloody Disgusting!. Retrieved 2 May 2018, from http://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3433799/william-castle-made-horror-movies-much-fun/
great post! I like how to mentioned that CGI is amazing but without a good story line everything seems flat. I certainly do agree with you then you said that films should have a good balance of both modern and traditional aspects.
ReplyDeletein your last paragraph you talked about William Castle and his filming style and what all is incorporated in his work. it seems rather interesting and I think I might check his work out. :)
What sort of technology City of Life has been renowned for? And I think it could go either way if a modern House on the Haunted Hill film was made today. In my opinion, I think they would use an actual skeleton since those are easy to get, so CGI creatures often don't exist in real life, obviously, and puppets are pretty expensive to make. So they'll probably hook the skeleton to a couple of rigs and they're good to go.
ReplyDeleteTechnology in film most definitely is a controversial topic. Of course there are COUNTLESS examples, including Valerian as you said, but the one I am particularly thinking of is the Star Wars prequels. I do not have a problem with them, but the general opinion is that its CGI has caused many problems.
ReplyDeleteI watched a BTS documentary about Revenge of the Sith this week, and indeed, A LOT of technology was required to bring let's say the planet Mustafar to life. Digital modelling, pre-visualization, animation... Interestingly, there is an interview with Ewan McGregor where he says that shooting with so many green and blue screens can be daunting because you have no idea what the final result will look like, which I suppose could be a good argument as to why technology in film can be bad - it can make the audience focus on the spectacle aspect, such as with Valerian as you mentioned, and it can in this case cause the actors to not really be confident about their acting, since they are not absolutely sure of what their environment looks like, which is especially worse when they have to talk to entirely digital characters, meaning there is no actor in front of them. Of course, in the end, this technology has helped in creating those beautiful but intimidating environments we see on the lava planet Mustafar, so in the end it seems to be a question of balance, of "how much is too much?".