Filmmaking as a form of storytelling has always relied on
technology to accomplish the goals of the creative minds involved in this
endeavor. The importance of a strong narrative has always been the driving
force behind such efforts. As technology has evolved it has given the creative
artists the ability to realize anything they can imagine. As a result the
visuals have often overwhelmed the basic storytelling elements of narrative,
character development and structure. Films today have been described many critics
today as the intellectual equivalent of amusement park thrill rides with
scares, chills and excitement but very little emotional or intellectual
content.
What troubles me is that typically these so called
“amusement ride features” are often the product that generates the most revenue
and as far as the major film studios are concerned, this consideration trumps
all others.
As a visual effects production veteran I worked for years in
a field that many people believed was contributing to the downfall of film as
an art form. Many accused movies of starting to look like a video game
equivalent: synthesized entertainment run through the wash/rinse cycle in a
computer lab. I have always resented those accusations. I worked with many special
and visual effects technicians and consider them as talented and creative as
anyone else in front of or behind the camera. Besides, we as visual effects
personnel are only a part of the creative process but it is ultimately the
Directors/ Writers and Producers and they decide on the content.
Every era has its genre favorites. In the 30’s Musicals were
big. The 40’s were replete with war films. The 50’s saw a surge in popularity
of westerns and Detective films. In the 60’s counter culture films were the
rage. After Star Wars was release in 1977 things began to change. The 70’s was
the era of the blockbuster but it wasn’t just thrill machines driving audiences
into the seats. Godfather and the French Connection were huge money makers for
the Paramount and Fox as was the Sound of Music which vertically save Fox from
going under in the late 60’s after it was having massive financial difficulties
after a string of major failures.
Star Wars was a game changer. It merged slick high tech
imagery with vintage story tropes copied right from the weekly adventures
serials of the 30’s and 40’s. What was significant about this release was that
it set a new standard for film as a visual experience. After the overwhelming theatre attendance
numbers which broke records everywhere in the world, Hollywood immediately
began to ride the whirlwind. Many high tech adventures soon followed: ALIENS,
The Terminator, Dune, Superman, Batman, Close Encounters, ET , et The dawn of
the high tech spectacle had begun and it wasn’t going away.
There is a new wave of filmmakers who have grown up on these
slick revisions of the 30’s serial adventures. Peter Jackson made the Lord of
The Rings films possible after several attempts through the last few decades by
other filmmakers failed due to the enormous technical challenges of the
project. This decade has seen the emergence of the superhero film. With the
Avengers recently smashing box office records to become the third highest
grossing film of all time, the studios have sat up and taken notice. Instead of
scouring the New York Times best seller list for potential properties to acquire,
there searching the local comic book stands.
Technology has made all this possible. Digital effects
technology specifically. Recently a
shake up within the industry has revealed that studios have outsourced much of
the work available to create these effects to companies overseas where labor is
less expensive. The technology is now available anywhere and if you’re a company
that can bankroll the hardware, you’ll have no trouble finding talent in
Canada, Asia, or England that will work for less than personnel here in the US.
But what does all this mean to your average filmgoer? Not
much I imagine. As long as they are entertained, they probably wont care what
technology was used or who was creating it. My concern is that the visuals and
the effects flash will drive the story and not the other way around. That films
will be come big noisy eyesores that rattle the brain instead of stimulating
it. It’s important to remember that digital technology is just a tool, like a
camera. An instrument to make the unreal, real.
That’s not to say I don’t enjoy escapism. I love Star Wars,
Terminator, ALIEN, Lord Of the Rings and their brethren. But I also lament the disappearance
of films like Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, The Godfather, The Wild Bunch and
others. Actor’s films. I hope well see
more films like that soon. But people have to want them and line up for them
for the studios to take notice.
In film, as in life, you get what you pay for.
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