MY, HOW FILMS CHANGE

I was watching the movie Jurassic Park yesterday, not realizing that it is now 15 years old, when it dawned on me. Movies have really changed in just that short time. I'm not talking about some odd motion that older movies were all better. I am talking just about the way they look. I also don't mean to imply that the CG suddenly looks dated. Special FX done right in any era, look good forever.

What I'm talking about here is just how used to these modern digital movies I have become. Even movies which are still shot on 35mm film stock are often immediately scanned into the computer and the rest of the work is done there. Even though they retain that film look, having originated on 35, they don't look like older movies. You know how a 60's movie looks different to us? Not talking FX, just the film itself, the color, the grain etc. Film stocks get better, processes improve, things change. I had no idea, though, that they change so quickly.

Jurassic Park really looks...I don't know the word... filmy. It's not grainy or dirty and scratched like an old film. it is still very clean, but it looks very different than our current films, even by the same director such as War of the Worlds. The color is different. It just looks more film like than the movie of today, even those that are still shot on 35mm.

Thinking of film, I also noticed, since ILM did the visual FX on Jurassic Park, that Lucas had changed the name of his company from LucasFilm LTD. to Lucas Digital LTD. Now, of course, I had always known that he changed the company name, but I never really thought about it until now. Film is no longer a part of his vocabulary. He doesn't used it anymore and doesn't see a need to. The name of his company had to be changed because film has no place in it. Seems simple, but for some reason it stuck me as profound. This is years before he actually made his first all digital movie too.

I wonder what the future holds for directors who have no desire to switch over. On the DVD Bug, William Friedkin talks about the end of film. He doesn't seem to have the problem with it that other younger directors have expressed. Seeing how different Jurassic Park looked from modern movies, though, I could almost understand the apprehension. Well.. almost.

I, of course, will never make anything on film. I have absolutely no reason to consider it. Even if I ever do a live action project, which isn't anywhere in my plans at the moment, it would still be shot digitally. It would probably be for the web and mobile markets before I ever consider any big screen too. That's just my view.

Tags: movies, digital