The emergence of new Film Techniques
The techniques that cinematographers use and the technology that is evolving are going to make a massive impact on the future of the film industry. Whether it will be an ease of shooting a scene, technology to enhance acting quality, or what the cinema experience will look like in 10-20 years, these techniques and ideas will shape the future of what we see on the big screen. Down below are three of what I consider to be super interesting or super likely techniques and technology we will see in the future.
Star Wars:
The Mandalorian
'Stagecraft'
It is universally known that acting with a greenscreen can be a nightmare. Not only for the actors themselves but also for the production crew in the editing stages of film and tv-shows. Recently when the Mandalorian came out, fans were in awe of the visuals when in fact it was a new film technique and technology used on set. Coldewey 2020, closely followed the show and the technique which is now being implemented in various other films and tv series'. What they called the 'stagecraft' is "20 feet tall, 270 degrees around, and 75 feet across — the largest and most sophisticated virtual filmmaking environment yet made." In retrospect a giant almost 360 degree screen so actors can see the environment they are acting in. This is revolutionary for film making, in cutting costs of travel and set setups and allowing the actors to be fully emersed within their roles. From what we know about this already, we can just imagine what sci-fi films could be produced with this technology and what the future of films will look like in terms of acting quality and further technological developments.
Drones
AI in Filmography
We have seen a rise in the use of drones for photography purposes and various other media, creating short videos and flyovers to survey surrounding areas. But what do we think about using these for film. Wu 2020, details in an article that drones are likely to define how cinema and film will look for the future. As our technology is getting smarter with AI, so are drones. Now being able to automatically avoid obstacles and people, flight patterns can be imbedded in their coding, it is easy to see that drones are likely to change the game when shooting blockbuster films such as Fast and the Furious or other action based movies where obstacles for filming is a massive challenge. The growth of AI will pave a new way for filming especially when we can teach the technology exactly where it needs to be at all times. Imagine instead of a whole crew tracking a fast pace chase scene down the street, we have drones to do all the hard work for us.
Virtual reality
CHaracter reactions
In a TED talk from 2015, Chris Milk offered a scenario where virtual reality is brought into cinema. As virtual reality gaming is already a huge factor in our society now, it isn't a stretch to have full movies in a virtual reality that you can interact with. Unlike it would be with gaming, it would be more prone to your favourite characters on the big screen reacting to your reactions. Milk states, "AI technology will allow computer-created characters to respond to audiences in real-time. Imagine a much more advanced version of Siri – but represented as a character inside a narrative experience.". This is obviously still something we are a far way from, but in the next decade to twenty years, this could be the reality we are facing. I personally think this is one of the coolest ideas that I have seen in my research of the future in film. Give me a chance to talk to Angelina Jolie or Chris Hemsworth on the big screen and I'll give you all my money