“What is the importance of New Technologies on the film

industry?”
I am going to discuss the impact of New Technologies on the film industry, and how the new
technologies used by production companies from Hollywood effect the British Film industry.
I am going to talk about the range of new technology used in recent film which includes:
CGI; 3D; editing software and cameras. I am also going to talk about Blu-ray and its effect on
the audience.

One of the new technologies that we see a lot of in films these days is CGI. CGI
stands for Computer Generated Images, because it is basically an image that is created on a
computer, so that the film looks more realistic, the audience become more involved, and
usually, the images created looks a lot more effective than something that is made by hand
e.g. suits, costumes, and settings. The British film industry has only recently started using
CGI in their films for effects like in the ‘Working Title’ production ‘Hot Fuzz’ where CGI is
used to give off the effect of blowing up a building. In comparison to this, independent
production companies such as ‘Warp Films’ have not yet started using CGI in any of their
productions, so this suggests that they cannot afford to provide enough funding for films, as
‘Working Title’ who is part of a conglomerate with ‘Universal studios’ clearly can afford to
do so as they have started using the technology. Hollywood have been using the
technologies for a while now in many films, such as ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ ‘Harry Potter’
and ‘King Kong’. Due to Hollywood using CGI in many of their films, this has impacted on the
British film industry because they have had to follow to keep up with Hollywood.

The next technology I am going to write about is 3D. 3D, which stands for 3
dimensions, is used in films to make some images seem to come out from the screen, so
that the images appear to come out from the screen, and to make the experience more
worthwhile for the audience. It is filmed with 3 lenses instead of one, and when it is shown
in a cinema, the audience must where a type of glasses to bring the images together. These
can usually be uncomfortable after a while, and disrupt the audiences viewing. The only film
so far to be shown in 3D from Working Title is ‘Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang’, and this is
the only film that has been shown in 3D from the British film industry as Warp Film are yet
to have brought out any films of their own in 3D. Hollywood have released many films in 3D
including Toy Story 3D, Piranha 3D, yet the only films that have actually been filmed with 3D
cameras are Avatar and Alice in Wonderland. This suggests that the 3D technology is very
expensive, and therefore the impact is that Hollywood are releasing more and more 3D
films, so therefore Working Title are possibly disappointing their target audience as they are
not releasing enough 3D productions.
 I am now going to talk about ‘editing software’ and its impact on the film industry.
Editing, known as non-linear editing, is a post-production enhancement. Examples of editing
software used by the film industries are Avid; iMovie; and Sony Vegas. It is used when
editing a film to make the footage run smoother between scenes, and is also used to include
sounds and other effects such as titles into the film. This makes the experience better for
the audience, as it would be frustrating to watch a film with blank pauses in between each
scene. The most common editing software used in the British film industry is Avid, which is
the same software that is used by the BBC. Software like these is expensive, but don’t
impact too much on Working Title as they can afford them due to them being a part of the
conglomerate with Universal studios. In comparison, Warp films struggle to afford the big
software’s as they don’t have much money because they are an independent company.

Next, I am going to talk about cameras used in films. Originally, 35mm cameras were
used in the film industry, and have been commonly used for over 50 years. Although
recently, the types of camera’s used by most film industries are known as silicon cameras,
which is effectively filming with digital technology. The advantage of using silicon over
35mm is that silicon film 68 frames per second whereas 35mm film only 24 frames per
second, meaning a much better picture quality, and therefore the audience gain a much
better movie experience. All films created by Working Title are now filmed with silicon
cameras after the first ever digital movie from Hollywood, Star Wars episode 1: The
Phantom Menace was released in 1999. Since then, all films created by the British films
industry use silicon cameras, although Warp Films, tend to use handheld cameras in some of
their work such as ‘This is England’ to fit in with the setting at the time.

In conclusion, the British film industry generally come off better because of the
impact new technologies in the film industry. Hollywood usually are first to use the latest
technologies, but due to Working Title being part of a conglomerate with Universal, they
usually begin to use them not long after Hollywood do so. They start using the technologies
when they can afford them, and due to this, the audiences are more eager to watch them,
therefore Working Title benefit from the new technologies as they generally make more
profit.