It ’s easy to watch a blockbusterfilmlike " Spider - Man : No Way family " or " incarnation : means of Water " and lose batch of how much stain new technology was require to bring in those pictures to the cock-a-hoop screen . From computer generated imagery ( CGI ) to underwater operation gaining control cameras , innovationis the driving force behind these cinema hit .
Seven Films Made Possible by Newly Created Technology
But cinematic innovation did n’t begin with the advent of the microchip . Long before computers — and at all stagecoach of plastic film history — directors and their crews usedcutting - bound technologiesto land their visions to life . And when the right technology did n’t yet survive , these film maker created the tool they needed . Here are seven films in which filmmakers discontinue the moulding and invented the engineering they needed to create cinema legerdemain :
1. “The Gulf Between” (1917)
When you think of color filmmaking , your head may go to the 1939 melodious " The Wizard of Oz , " which was the most virtuosic use of Technicolor engineering science at the metre . However , Technicolor had been around for decennium by then . It debuted in 1917 when Wray Physioc ’s film " The Gulf Between " pioneered the color technology . woefully , no intact copies remain . Technicolor remained Hollywood ’s gold banner through the 1950s , at which point new colouration film technologies from Kodak begin to take over the market .
2. “The Jazz Singer” (1927)
" The Jazz Singer " was cinema ’s first " talkie . " That is , it was the first film to feature synchronized pre - recorded strait . antecedently , all feature - length films used subtitle to convey dialogue , and musicians performed underscores live in the dramatics itself . This interchange with director Alan Crosland ’s landmark film , " The Jazz Singer . " Only the sung luck have pre - recorded sound — the dialogue still swear on subtitles — but it determine the template for basically all films to come . ( Note that " The Jazz Singer " features lead-in doer Al Jolson in blackface , a practice session now understood to be incompatible . )
3. “Metropolis” (1927)
Released the same yr as " The Jazz vocalist , " the German larger-than-life " Metropolis " was a understood film . What it miss in sound innovation , it more than made up for in term of visuals and special gist . Fritz Lang ’s movie was the first to use miniature models to correspond large cities . It also used a technique to stick in real - spirit actors into scenes that used these miniature models . This is calledthe Schüfftan appendage , named for " Metropolis " cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan .
4. “King Kong” (1933)
How , in 1933 , do you depict an tremendous ape that can climb the side of the Empire State Building ? Among other thing , you use stop - motion liveliness , thepioneering achievementof this film , where you painstakingly move strong-arm objects in midget increments ( capturing each increment on motion picture ) to create the illusion of fluid motion . And then you compound the stop - motion brio with live human performing . This required all sorting of cinematic chicanery , including matte paintings , double - exposing material body of film , dual - matting frame of reference of pic ( calledthe Williams Process ) , and at the same time give away two rolls of film in the same camera ( calledbipacking or the Dunning operation ) .
Not all of these techniques debuted with " King Kong " — for example the Williams process first seem in 1922 ’s " Wild Honey . " But under the guidance of two manager ( Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack ) and three cinematographers ( Eddie Linden , Vernon Walker and J.O. Taylor ) , " King Kong " brought all the techniques together to aid weave a marvellous story .
5. “Citizen Kane” (1941)
Orson Welles was only 25 year erstwhile when he cowrote , produced , directed and starred in " Citizen Kane . " This was no impedimenta to his pioneering , along with camera operator Gregg Toland , of the deep focus camera proficiency that remains a staple of Hollywood filmmaking . Toland called the proficiency " pan - focus " because it allow everything in a shot to be in focus at once , mimicking veridical - sprightliness vision . Prior to teaming with Welles on " Citizen Kane , " he spent two yr refining the technique with dissimilar tv camera lenses and lighting plots . InToland ’s own word of honor , " With cooking pan - focus , the photographic camera , like the human eye , see an total panorama at once , with everything clear and lifelike . "
6. “Rainbow” (1996)
You might best recollect Bob Hoskins as an role player , but he was also the director of thefirst all - digital film in history : " Rainbow . " Produced in Britain and filmed in and around Montreal , Quebec , " Rainbow " used no cinema film . All footage was shot on Sony ’s Solid State Electronic Cinematography cameras . What ’s more , all post - production editing , special personal effects and audio were also done digitally . The finished movie was transport to 35 mm film for screening in theaters — the only point that it live in an parallel format .
7. “Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace” (1999)
" The Phantom Menace " may not be the most critically acclaimed film in the " Star Wars " canyon , but its technical contributions are another story . The film ’s most polarizing role , Jar Jar Binks , was filmed using a then - nascent applied science know asmotion capture picture taking . This involves a lively thespian wearing an turnout that tracks all phases of fluid bowel movement . Data from cameras and the histrion ’s turnout feed into a computer , which apply it to render an alive character .
This remain a popular path to show nonhuman characters in live activeness films . Ahmed Best played Jar Jar , but the most famous motion capture doer to date is Andy Serkis , who later look in the " Star Wars " universe as Supreme Leader Snoke . Serkis also famously take on a apparent movement seizure interlingual rendition of Gollum in " The Lord of the Rings " and the title character in Peter Jackson ’s " King Kong " — a remake of the 1933 moving-picture show on this lean .
How Technology Impacts the Modern Filmmaking Process
Some of the biggest innovations in modern-day filmmaking have come up in the post - production mental process . This is where directors and editor habituate software system software to enhance the footage that they capture on set . Justin Guerrieri , a movie maker and editor whose editing credits let in " Doom Patrol , " " Taken " and " Relationship Status , " reflects on how technological advancements keep on to expand the boundaries of post - production editing .
" The biggest alteration in film and TV editing in my life-time was the replacement from editing celluloid film ( literally cutting and beg man of moving picture together to build a scenery ) to edit digital video procurator clips on Avid nonlinear electronic computer systems , " says Guerrieri . " But that switch really bump before my calling , in the ' 90s . "
As for Guerrieri ’s own career : " The next big variety was the ubiquitous consumption of calculator - drive visual effects using programs like After essence , 3ds Max , Maya , Cinema 4D , Blender and Houdini . " These software applications programme are used by both hobbyists and professionals do work at the highest levels of film and television system .
" Nearly every film and television show has some use of goods and services of visual effects now , " says Guerrieri . And it ’s not always in the way an consultation might have a bun in the oven . " It could be anything as simple as paint out a piece of magnetic tape on the ground that you were n’t imply to see , all the way to a full CGI 3D - animated superhero flying in out space . "
Because film editing software is now uncommitted at consumer - level price points , it ’s possible that the next big innovation in filmmaking wo n’t come from a studio - grow movie like an " Avatar " or a " Star Wars . " It might well come from an indie filmmaker or a hobbyist who ’s figured out a raw way to rein in digital technology to produce cinematic magic .
