Anyone who compares a science fiction film of the 1960s or 1970s with a recent offering will be struck by the realism with which today’s movie robots, monsters, or aliens move against vistas of giant starships and planetary surfaces. The computer has both enhanced the management of cinematic production processes and made possible new and startling effects.
The role of the computer in film begins well before the first camera rolls. Writers can use computers to write scripts, while specialized programs can be used to lay out storyboards. Using 3D programs somewhat like CAD (drafting) programs, set designers can experiment with the positioning of objects before deciding on a final design and obtaining or creating the physical props. For mattes (backgrounds against which the characters will be shot in a scene), a computer-generated scene can now be inserted directly into the film without the need for an expensive, hand-painted backdrop.
Similarly, animation and special effects can now be ren-dered in computer animation form and integrated into the storyboard so that the issues of timing and combining of effects can be dealt with in the design stage. The actual effects can then be created (such as by using extremely realistic computer-controlled puppets and models together with computer generated imagery, or CGI) with the assur-ance that they will properly fit into the overall sequence. The ability to combine physical modeling, precise control, and added textures and effects can now create a remarkably seamless visual result in which the confrontation between a beleaguered scientist and a vicious velociraptor seems quite believable.
Just as the physical and virtual worlds are frequently blended in modern moviemaking, the traditional categories of visual media have also merged. Disney’s fully animated films such as The Lion King benefit from the same computer-generated lighting and textures as the filming of live actors. Using 3D graphics engines, computer game scenes are now rendered with almost cinematic quality (see computer games). Even characters from old movies can be digitally combined (composited) with new footage. (Of course, the artistic value of such efforts may be controversial.) Computer technology, now relatively inexpensive, can also give the generally lower budget world of television access to higher-quality effects. As computers continue to become more powerful yet cheaper, amateur or indepen-dent filmmakers are gaining abilities previously reserved to big Hollywood studios.
The delivery of film and video has also been greatly affected by digitization. Classic movies can be digitized to rescue them from deteriorating film stock, while videos can be delivered digitally over cable TV systems or over the Internet. The ability to easily copy digital content does raise issues of piracy or theft of intellectual property (see intel-lectual property and computing).
More recently, digital camcorders (and video modes in digital cameras and even cell phones) are making access to basic “film” technology a part of everyday life. A few min-utes browsing a video-sharing site (see YouTube) reveals a wide variety of documentary and creative productions ranging from the equivalent of the old “home movie” to professional quality.
No comments:
Post a Comment