Digital media and the movies

When you think about movies today, what are some of the most visually inspiring, greates movies you can think of? Some people will give me answer of maybe comedies or chick flicks, but I bet most of you will answer more along the lines of these movies. Transformers, Avatar, and the like.

And what do all these movies have in common? Digital effects and animation. They either use special effects to enhance the movie, the integrate computer animation into the live action of the res of the movei, or even the movie is entirely animated. More and more the movie industry is relying on digital techiniques to supplement and enhance their movies, or even replacing traditional filming all together.

Who wasn’t amazed when they first saw Transformers, and these large robotic creatures roaming around in seemingly the real world? When you first saw the amazing world of avatar, and integration of the human’s into the environment? Even such classics such as the Titanic used digital animation for the sinking of the ship, and and the dinosaurs of Jurassic park?

Many movies now a days would have been impossible without digital touching up, effect, and animation, or at least they wouldn’t have had nearly the quality and visual impact they do now. These special effects allow for an almost realistic escape into the fantastic and unimagined.

These digital effects allow for enhancement of back grounds in subtle ways, such as in Moulin rouge. It allows for changing the appearance of a character, from the changing of age, such as in The Curious Tale Of Benjamin Button, To a comlete revamp of an actors appearnce, such as that of Davey Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean, and Gollum in the lord of the rings. It allows for more Gore in horror movies, and many other ways than you can count. The fantastical creatures of a fantasy film, the space fight of a sci fi film, explosions in an action film, even to to just mess with lighting, filters, and monir things in every genres of film imaginable.

Digital animation and effects is also much easier and cost effective than many effects would have been to prodiuce in real life. They allow for retakes, and reworking of effects not possible in a real life creation of them, allow for much more control over the effects, and allow for a much more fantastic and wide srpead range of effects.

Argueably one of the greatest example of the Integration of live action filming with special effects would be James Cameron’s avatar. The movies combines the actual movement and such of the human actors, as a frmaeworks under the digital animation of the characters. The end product ended up being about 40 percent live actiona dn about 60 percent digital. It would have been nearly impossible to recreate without the use of digital effects and animation.

The digital effects industry has become intertwined with the film industry the two are virtually inseperable. In the future, expect to seen bigger, greater intergration of the two techologies, creating new and greater worlds for us to explore.