Emerging Technologies in Film Industry

Films have been a major source of inspiration of many booming technologies of the present and future both. Both creativity and technology are an integral part of the Film Industry and hence help the industry evolve and grow beyond the regular threshold.

Movies are the first one to bring out the new technology to us. So, we could safely say that Film Industry is the first one to welcome any new technology ideas and is the first to evolve. In this blog, we would be discussing about some of the emerging technologies in the Movie Production Industry.

List of Technologies

1. Flat Lenses –

We know you have never heard of anything like that. Harvard Researchers are still working to get this new discovery patented. Two of the biggest advantage of using the flat, ultra-thin lens are –

• It can offer great accuracy over wider range of wavelengths.
• It will reduce the chromatic aberrations observed in curved-lens capture.

Image Source – seas.harvard.edu

2. AI-written Screenplays –

We have seen the depiction of Artificial Intelligence in many movies, in fact movies has been the real inspiration for scientists but this is the one technology which has not been much part of the Movie Production Industry.

Wondering where would be the AI involved in the Movie Industry well, Robots can do the work of writing the Sci-Fi Movies Script. AI researchers of New York University developed a program of recurrent neural network named as Benjamin. The input to this program was the scripts of many sci-fi films including classic science fiction movies and the output script was weirdly entertaining, strangely moving science fiction story of love and despair.

Image Source -screencraft.org

3. Digital Cameras –

Use of digital cameras in Film Industry has varied opinions, some directors still prefer to stick with the conventional mediums whereas Director Steven Soderbergh calls it as a “Game Changer” for the quality, affordability and portability.

Some of the advantages of Digital camera over Film

• Low Light – The capability to shoot with noise-free results in the limited lightings is the reason more and more people are getting attracted to it.
• Cost and Time on Set – Though film cameras are comparatively cheaper to buy but the processing and film stocks can be expensive for low-budget filmmakers. Digital cameras would be a great boon for them.
• Turnaround Time – Since, there is no after processing for the films shot with digital cameras, hence the turnaround time is reduced with digital cameras.
• Longer Takes – the feature to record long shots made many filmmakers to switch to digital cameras.

Image Source – cdn1.thr.com

4. Projection through Smartphones –

Smartphones are today fulfilling almost every need of our day-to-day life from calling to ordering, entertainment everything on your fingertips. Mobile companies are now upgrading the pixels of camera to give you good picture quality.

Smartphones are now being updated with projection feature to project using projectors for smartphones. So, you can now carry your movies and files in your smartphones and project them on any surface via pocket-sized pico-projectors.

5. 3D without Clunky Glasses –

Lenticular Lens Technology should be thanked for achieving the objective. We all love those movies with 3D effects but hate wearing those annoying glasses which gives us a look of some astronaut. An array of magnifying glasses is designed in manner that different images get magnified when viewed from slightly different angles is referred to as Lenticular Lens.High-resolution 3D screens could be developed using lenticular lens system to avoid the need for glasses.

The other way to achieve this is a very fine grating could be placed in front of LCD screen blocking different parts via slots, hence giving us a picture in 3D. This method is referred to as Parallax Barrier.

Image Source -3dadworks.com

6. Realistic Audio Experience –

Movie with a good audio quality is very must but all the effort goes waste if the audio delivering system is not able to do justification with it. People spend a lot on audio systems in order to experience the true essence of music in the movie or the songs.

Dolby Atmos is a really good Audio system which promises to give you a feel of every dimension in the movie and takes you to an altogether different world. This was used for the first time at the screenings of the Hobbit movie.

7. 4D Movies – Korean Style –

4D movies has an added dimension for your senses i.e. they come with actual physical effects. One the place where you can experience such a thing is at Madame Tussaud’s Museum. Korea has taken inspiration from them and showcased the blockbusters like Avatar in 4D and gave the audience a complete different experience when they felt the breezes of Pandora in their hair, and smelled the smoke and foliage.

This set a target for future developments for the all the people around the world. The first 4D theatre opened up at Los Angeles in United States in the year 2014. At present 23 countries have installed 4D systems according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Image Source – images.fandango.com

8. Autonomous Drones –

Well you would have guessed the application and usage of the technology by the name itself. And you are right they are used with cameras for all the difficult aerial shots and also shooting from places and condition not suitable for humans.

In the initial years, it was not accepted widely but with the developments in the drone technology it is now going mainstream. It has lowered the budgets for movies by replacing helicopters with the drones. This method is also safer easier and faster and these are more reasons for it gaining popularity among directors and cinematographers.

Image Source: hlc-cultcritic.com

9. Virtual Reality –

Whenever we talk VR we think games. But Gaming is not the only industry being influenced by it. The characteristic of VR to give an immersive and interactive experience to the user is being put to research by people to figure out it’s usage in the filmmaking industry. As, this has the potential to change a lot of things in this industry.

People are still working to find out appropriate application of it in the film industry as it would need a proper balance between artistic talent and technical skill to create something really well and worth the effort.

10. 3D Printing –

3D Printing, a technology which has entered almost every kind of industry around us. You must be thinking what could be the application of 3D Printing in the Film Industry but to our surprise this technology has the potential to revolutionize the movie industry from production design aspect.

The Props departments of Big Production houses are quite impressed with the capability of the technology to achieve sophisticated levels of detailing, printing and finishing of the products.

Pinewood Studios’ production company Propshop is now being known for producing awesome set pieces for many films via 3D Printing. Some examples are Night-Vision Goggles in Zero Dark Thirty, full-scale tank exterior for Fast and Furious 6 and Peter Quill’s spaceship in Guardians of Galaxy.

Image Source – businessinsider.com

11. Cloud and Collaborative Workflows –

You must be thinking what application could cloud have in the film industry. But let us remind you that every business process is achieved through a teamwork. Digital communication has given us the freedom to work with specialists from all around the world. And the use of Cloud could help them in working and collaborating well with each other on the aspect of work in spite of sitting in different regions.

The adoption of Cloud and collaborative workflows has made the task of sharing and managing of files between multiple resources working on one project less tedious and no more frustrating. But if something is developed by people who are well versed with the dynamics of creative briefs can do wonders of the film industry.

Well the above list has actually given us the glimpse of our future film industry and what we could hope to see in the near future. We cannot promise that all these technologies will be a major success in the Film Industry but surely some are definitely going to change the face of it.

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