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FUTURE OF THE FILM INDUSTRY
Interactivity
Like the Twilight Zone, the future of Film online is not going to be
the reality we now know. We will be journeying through an interactive
experience. No luggage is required for the trip. All that the audience
need bring is imagination.
More interactivity and control of the movie direction will be given
to the participants. Movies and games will inevitably merge into interactive
"cinegames". Say a movie has 20 characters. Each character
would be controlled by one participant or user. If there were less than
20 users then the absent user would be replaced by a bot or an automated,
programmed character. Several cinegames could be run at anytime via
server and whoever sets it up. Cinegames will improve in speed, visual
quality and reusability.
 Wing Commander IV an "Interactive Movie," |
Taken a step further, films
will merge with not only games, but animation as well. The newest, revolutionary
real-time unreality is Machinima: or shooting a film in virtual
reality. Machinima is short for Machine Animation, or the practice of
making an animated movie using video-game engines technology.
Machinima may drop the timid into a timeless abyss. But if the behavioral
trends of the public becoming more causative and multi-tasking unfold,
they will lead us forward in this direction. Major movie studios take
note:
The future of Films will most certainly be as interactive as we dare. Characters and storyline will be in the hands of the user. Machinima uses graphical techniques originally developed for computer games to generate its visuals, so it is a very low budget process. It would cost millions to make a CGI developed, frame by frame animated simulation. All forms of these new mediums will certainly be made to be available online and seen through portable players to experience 24/7, any longitude, latitude or galaxy. And once the film is made, Machinima productions can be distributed over the internet, rendered" in real-time on a user's computer, exactly as the film-makers saw them. For the first time, anyone can become a film-maker: able to create any film and any scene they can imagine.
 Machinima (Ma-sheen-EH-ma) |
Portability and Accessibility
Gone are the days of the Saturday night Drive-In Theater. Welcome to the wireless modem and hand held, online players. We will still have the avid movie goers who go to the movie theatre. But as the drive in movie theatres died down, so will the theatres. More and more movie viewers will prefer to be at home in front of there wall sized high definition screens or converged compuTV's. They will buy a movie to download directly from the MGM, WB, Paramount, Disney, Dreamworks, and still others will want to experience it any place, any time that suits them. It will have access it now portability. So online distribution will be a key solution.
Digital Productions
Most film productions will be made using digital technology. Film-making
costs have sky-rocketed. Converting films to the internet is times taking
and involved in numerous transfer technologies. Advances in digital
technology will make it almost indistinguishable from film. Digital
films can easily be converted to the internet streaming and downloads.
Films made for internet viewing will not need to be 1 ½-2 ½
hours long So, logic takes us full circle to the conclusion that most
film productions will be made using digital technology.
So, through Interactivity, portability, accesiblity and digital productions
we will travel through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight
and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries
are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead, your next stop:
"The OnlineTwilight Zone"!
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OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES
Interactivity
Portability
and Accessibility
Digital Productions