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Analysis on digital film – based on several examples

Analysis on digital film – based on several examples

Label: film analysis

Author: Ziyue Meng

Time: 15/09/2017

The rapid development of computer, network and digital communication technology has brought new opportunities for the development of traditional art categories, especially to promote the development of radio, television and film to digital audio, digital video and digital film, which constitutes a new generation of digital media together with computer animation, virtual reality and so on. Therefore, when digital technology appears and begins to penetrate into many art categories, to influence and change these art categories of traditional creation and aesthetic experience, core digital technology including the computer graphics (referred to as CG) becomes the main means of expression in film industry (Candy, 2012). And the film technology also ushers in a new round of updates, so audience immediately enjoy the special visual effects from a number of digital films, especially in 3D films.

The birth of digital technology and the marriage of digital technology and film art have become an unavoidable fact in today's era, and the role of director and actors has been constantly highlighted with the renewal of the film age (Broadhurst, 2007). It highlights that the leading role of digital technology cannot be ignored whether it is the role of director and actors as the soul in the film or role of audience as the core in the film appreciation and acceptance. Digital technology and film art is not contradictory; on the contrary, they are more in line with the nature of the film that: digital images meet the senses of audience, and also reveal the human nature to use the world's philosophy to impress the audience’s mind (Candy, 2012). The film itself is a combination of art and technology products, and every major technological reform of the film in the history is bound to bring changes in the concept of the film. The digitization of the film is not entirely at the mercy of the computer technology without emotion; on the contrary, the digital film is the body of life created by emotional thinking (of creator or director) with the use of sophisticated rational thinking (digital technology). The performance of its digital film vitality mainly takes the creator’s art creativity for the media.

Digital film is not just "wonders" merely piled by technology, but also an indispensable pillar of film art creation and it is the expansion of the film creation in time and space. Whether it is from the film image or film creation to explore, or from the perspective of the film audience, digital technology can always meet the virtual reality of film imagery, and unlimited possibilities in film creation (Broadhurst, 2007). Digital cinema can satisfy the aesthetic expectations of film audiences, and this visual image or vision is consistent with their life experience, so that they will have a sense of identity.

However, for science and technology and film art, the two are not totally naturally combined. If digital technology can be transformed into artistic productivity, it must be based on the high quality of creators and creative labor. Digital film technology greatly broadens the artist’s creative world, and injects fresh vitality to the declining film industry (Loertscher, 2016). A generation of new creative artists and emerging professional practitioners in the film industry, such as digital film software designers, computer designers and visual effects designers will be become the protagonist in the 21st century film stage. As Bazin (2004) said, "all art is based on human participation." Even if the digital technology is omnipotent, it is also a collection of no life; and it can get omnipotent only when the people split and re-arrange it to make it get the artistic life. So the director, screenwriter, photography, post-editing, sound effects, etc. have a dynamic role on the film's text and the performance of film art that cannot be ignored. In the digital film background, the director and the writer's ideology is very important to the expression of the film art.

The film creator is always the soul of the film creation, so, as long as the film creator does not lose the imagination and creativity of the art, digital technology will not affect the expression of the film art, because any technology cannot replace the art to create itself. The definition of traditional film performances is that actors shape the characters in the screen. It only refers to the film actor's performance. The film performance should be more extensive, and it includes a variety of film technology to shape the film image. If people expand the film show from the actors as the center to all the image technology as the center to shape all aspects of the image, it can say that the broad sense of the film is that the film director uses audio-visual elements in the screen to shape the image to convey emotions. It includes film performers, digital technology performances, camera lens performances, sound elements of the performance and so on. In the digital film, the connoisseur's connotation is infinitely expanded, and all the image of the director's mind can participate in the performance of the screen. Experience of the epitaxy is infinitely expanded, and digital technology can put all the real and unreal scenes on the screen (Bolter, 2005). For example, the audiences who have watched the Terminator II will have a very deep impression on the liquid metal T1000 in the film, and everyone will be shocked about the free flow of the stunning unpredictably changeable monster. This digital effect realizes the achievement that "character created by the digital technology" can completely replace the "man-made role", which is successfully applied in the film.

In fact, the digital technology does not cause the crisis of the actors in the film, and human's participation has always been the soul of the film, because the virtual reality is only to expand the actor's performance space (Broadhurst, 2007). As in "Forrest Gump", Forrest Gump rescues injured Dan Lieutenant on the battlefield in Vietnam, and after treatment, Dan Lieutenant keeps his life, but the two legs below the knees are gone. This strong contrast is the digital technology’s credit, and that kind of shocking and strong real picture effect cannot be replaced by any text or language. In fact, Dan Lieutenant is synthesized by two shots. One is the empty lens of the environment, and the other is the Dan lieutenant with blue cloth wrapped on the legs. Through digital technology synthesis and modified technology, they are combined into one complete lens (Prince, 1996). This technique is designed to match the actors to better perform their own performances, and the real picture effect enters the role of emotion of audience to help the actors to better shape the characters. In this regard, digital technology expands the possibility of film performances, so that it fulfills all the possibilities in the film narrative, and the film art will be shown more perfect.

For another example, Avatar's success makes the relationship between digital technology and film art once again become the focus of many disciplines. Digital technology is gradually becoming one of the elements to attract the audience's eye, but the traditional film aesthetics is still acting as the identity of the soul to support the film's artistic value. There is no doubt that "Avatar" is a wild imagination with 3D works, and the audience enters a new virtual world under the guidance of the director. It is no doubt that it is the special effect company and digital technology that becomes the carrier of film content. Cameron, through continuous exploration in this film, tells us that CG (computer graphics) can not only be an auxiliary means of film, but also can become the main carrier of the film content, to completely serve the artistic needs (Fabe, 2014). Compared with the previous science fiction films, "Avatar" not only pays attention to creating the screens with very impacted colors, and pays more efforts to shape the depth of the humanistic thinking. Audience after viewing can provide further thinking and sentiment about human being, ethic, environment and the earth. This digital film is not only concerned about the film surface, to provide visual pleasure for the audience, but also pays the same attention to the film content, to provide deep human care for the audience.

From the first time in the movie screen with roaring digital dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, the maturity of computer technology gradually makes digital stunts become the new favorite of film effects. Traditional film creation is often limited by some real factors such as reality and environment, and the emergence and maturity of computer technology and computer graphics provide creators with the possibility of "infinity", which extends the creation to new space (Bolter, 2005). It seems to be able to say that the emergence of digital cinema provides an exchange medium for the human to confront the scientific and technical ideology.

References

Broadhurst, S. (2007). Digital Film. Digital Practices. Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Loertscher, M. L., Weibel, D., Spiegel, S., Flueckiger, B., Mennel, P., & Mast, F. W., et al. (2016). As film goes byte: the change from analog to digital film perception. Psychology of Aesthetics Creativity & the Arts,10(4), 458-471.

Bazin, A. (2004). What is cinema? (Vol. 2). Univ of California Press.

Fabe, M. (2014). Closely watched films: an introduction to the art of narrative film technique. Univ of California Press.

Belton, J. (2012). Digital 3D cinema: Digital cinema's missing novelty phase.Film History: An International Journal, 24(2), 187-195.

Bolter, J. (2005). Transference and transparency: Digital technology and the remediation of cinema. Intermédialités: Histoire et théorie des arts, des lettres et des techniques/Intermediality: History and Theory of the Arts, Literature and Technologies, (6), 13-26.

Candy, L., & Edmonds, E. (2012). Explorations in art and technology. Springer Science & Business Media.

Prince, S. (1996). True Lies Perceptual Realism, Digital Images, and Film Theory. Film Quarterly (ARCHIVE), 49(3), 27.