Just in my lifetime I have seen technologies change over and over at an increasing speed. With a question like how have new technologies changed the way film is understood today? The answer I would have to write down is a hundred and eighty degree rotation in content. I would have to say the same thing I hear in class all the time and state that before the special effects came along the story would have to have been written with more depth and talent. Now a days if you have a weak plot you can veer the audience away from the holes in your story with an explosion or two, take Transformers 2 or many of Michael Bay’s films for an example. Movies with deep stories like ‘Chinatown’ and tight one liners like ‘It Happened One Night’ were replaced with special effects and week plots.
Another new technology that changed the way film is understood I would have to say television and home video would be the biggest to me. I would have to say as long as I’ve been alive I can remember the multitude of changes made to home video. From BetaMax to VHS, then to Laserdisc, Divx Disc, Digital Versatile Discs (otherwise known as DVD), HD-DVD, then to Blu-Ray Disc. Throughout this constantly changing media one thing is for sure, it has changed how we watch movies as a society. Instead of watching a movie as a social experience, it is now a private one.
With that statement out of the way I can transition into the second part of the question, What influences are digital technologies and home theaters having on the way films are watched and appreciated? Again I have to state that as long as we have went to the theatre as a species we have done this publicly. Now a days we can watch films in the quietness of our own private existence. One of the good things with digital, which by the way was suppose to be cheaper all around but the price keep creeping up, people now have the ability to choose from a greater selection of films out there with video on demand and Netflix. Even in rural places where they don't have a theatre or if they do it only brings in the blockbusters - the viewer that enjoys lesser known or independent films can rent, purchase, stream, and even download what they would like for a movie.
There are always good and bad to everything I guess. The Home Theatre is killing the Movie Theatre, Red Box and Netflix is killing video rental stores and the studios are trying to kill them all and make movies eighty to ninety dollars apiece to purchase like back in the 1980's. The only thing that is for sure is no matter what we write here does not mean a thing in this ever changing industry, and as long as someone is losing money gimmicks like 3D will pop in from time to time. In the long run what it boils down to is the stuff we learn today will be completely different from what our kids will learn taking this exact class when they are our ages.
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