ICT AND FILM INDUSTRY

Digital technology in the past decade has totally changed the movie industry. Focusing on the crucial procedures of movie making and the impact that technology had on each of the areas, this research would look at recent reforms in the pre-production part of film making, furthermore we will try to know the new instruments, equipment and storage facilities being used by modern film makers and producers. Film distribution and the adverse impacts that technology has had on the movie industry, majorly on the illegitimate sale and piracy of copyrighted material is scrutinized. Post-theatre film distribution and the revolutionary breakthrough technologies in the industry are explored to look at the continuous changes in education and exercise of professionals in the movie industry. Computer generated graphics and the growing impact ICT has made in the industry is covered and the future of the film industry is predicted. ICT played a lot of positive role in different aspect of the world today. It has touched the medical industries, educational sector, governmental sector and even the movie or film industries. This paper discourse on how ICT have positively impacted the movie/film industry today. If we all remember our young age, we probably think of the 1700s, 1800s, or 1900s when the movie we watch are all cassettes or analog, and probably not durable, with the help of ICT today we can see changes in the video technology in the present world. As revolution continues in the movie industries the impacts of ICT have made the following changes; Technological tools have changed the script writing procedures by making use of the internet, using digital editing tools. The internet is also been used by scriptwriters to forward their scripts to producers, directors and potential cast associates in other to be reviewed by each characters either by peer review in a way of online forums. There has been a crucial increase in the past decade in the use of digital video cameras for film with low budget planning along with high definition video which is set to compete and go beyond the standard 35mm film both in quality and flexibility (culkin & Randle 2003). The post production phase of movie making has possibly been the most important impacted by the new technological inclination. The introduction of non-linear technology has made the use of film edited manually inefficient and time consuming. This procedure involves fixing and putting together film in a virtual screen where the directors, producers, and editors view the output of the film on screen. (culkin & randle 2003. p. 8) The whole course of film making has been completely technology driven, everything from the distribution to the projection of movie to audiences (consumers). However, the absence of commercial agreements between distributors and exhibitors of the films has slowed down the conversion to digital technologies. For instance, only 170 cinemas around the globe have converted to what is recognized as high-end digital (culkin & Randle 2003). Profit margins for the studios are recognizably decreasing, now being out casted or outnumbered by the game industry. So satellite delivery have recently made its first implementation on film industry and reports has shown that upon full execution of film distribution, it can save the film industry of cost of $700 million per year. (markman). A major problem the movie industry has been facing for the past years since the introduction of technology in the industry is the piracy and copyright issue. For this reason copyrighted movies have been easily affordable more than the original film produced for distribution. For movie and music content, these lead to quite a few lawsuits against peer-to-peer networks and individuals as result for stealing and distribution of these movies and music materials. This will always be one of the major industries issues the industry would have to face since the public (consumers) has access to this low cost copyrighted material (peer-2-peer and DVD writers). Nevertheless, the movie industry has endeavored to decrease the risk of piracy of movies by creasing the (CSS) known as content scrambling system in which only authentic DVD or VCD products which contain a certain decryption algorithm can play the particular movie. The same technology also has the capability to rearrange the video and audio on the DVD/CD so that only a DVD with the same decryption algorithm can play the film perfectly. The CSS technology is also designed to prevent users from direct copying of data from DVDs. Though, not long after the CSS technology was introduced, Norwegian teenagers reverse engineered a DVD technology by breaking the code that contain the decryption algorithm and uploaded decryption software for users around the world to use. These means that the movie industry would need to keep updating and also find and option to this difficulties (markman). The post-theatre market accounts roughly for three quarters of movie’s income during its lifetime. The principal of these are ideo rental shops which accounts for nearly half of all profits (). The DVD has completely brought a new dimension to the industry, becoming the fastest growing customer electronics item of all time (culkin & Randle 2003). DVD’s have undeniably increased film studio’s income when it decided to provide movie content to the home consumers with unbelievable picture and sound quality which does not worn out like the old VHS cassettes (markman). A new and rapidly developing area in the dis tribution processes of film industries is â€Å"Movie on demand†. This is a scenario where consumers download their desire movie over the internet instead of going down to their local video store or cinema house. The advantage of this technology is that virtually reduction or no-fees are needed to access the movie and the inconvenience if any when travelling to the video rental store or cinema house (culkin & Randle 2003). Rapid changes in the movie industry in recent years have forced many professionals around the world in audio and graphic industries to acquire new and specialized skills. This is an ongoing development in most industries. An example is that the post-production industries are expected to have continuous upgrades of equipment and software which will lead to continual re-training of employees/crews which in turns increase production costs (culkin & Randle 2003). Future distributions might comprise allowing editors in different countries to editors in various countries to edit film by just gaining access to digitized media on a server without actually leaving the comfort of his or her house. Satellite distributions to cinemas are at the vanguard of future film circulations and distributions. George Lucas, the director of star wars is looking forward to using satellite technology to project the rest of the episode in cinemas. This process of digitally distribution of the film through data projectors is known as E-Cinema (& Randle 2003). It is not expensive and definitely flexible in terms of distribution power; nevertheless Cinemas who wish to implement this new technology would have to acquire substantial expenses when converting to digital projection. This technology is very much still in the development level and the impact is not really seen yet (& Randle 2003). Gregory Huang article titled â€Å"the new face of the movie industry† studies the development in computer animated graphics in past years. Recent blockbuster movies like Spiderman 3 are good examples of how far computer graphics have come in recent years. The movie industry have come to a stage in which every single event in film making process can be computer generated . In past years, the technology illustrations of faces have not looked real when seen a lot closer as it is easier to make non-human objects like dinosaurs real, moreover, improvements in rendering human body or skin, lighting or darkening digital scenes and examining human characters or actors are now allowing animation engineers to manage and take control of every sing movement of pixels in an animated format (skin). Huang (2004) reports that an average budget for a bestseller film cost approximately $150 million where it is exceptional to see more than 50% of funding allocated to just the computer generated effect which in turns raise revenue to about average of $700 million per year. At least we can say that there is no area within the movie industry that has not been impacted by technology over the past years. The major impacts for pre-production phase have been focused on the development of script-writing tools as well as the increase use of internet to distribute script to editors, directors and other important parties within the industry. Generally equipment costs have drastically increased drastically reduced at the same time quality and flexibility of products has increased. The confinement of non-linear technology has all but made hand edited or manually edited movies an extinct and fast-track the whole film editing process (culkin & Randle 2003). The major downside which has increased concerns around film industries around the world is that it has become extremely easy for consumers around the world to copy copyrighted movie material and this keep generating problems in the industries till date. Finally we can say that the advancement in technology would only continue to bring improvement in the movie industries around the world and it is definitely set to revolutionize the industries for years to come.REFERENCECulkin, Nigel & Randle, Keith 2003, Facing the Digital Future: The Implications of Digital Technology for the Film Industry, University of Hertfordshire, Hertfordshire. Huang, Gregory 2004, The New Face of Hollywood, Technology Review, http://www. technologyreview. com/articles/04/09/huang0904. asp? p=0. Markman, David & Vega 2001, Mark, Digital Future: Movie Industry Tries to Keep One Step Ahead of Hackers, Daily Journal, Los Angeles. ICT AND FILM INDUSTRY Digital technology in the past decade has totally changed the movie industry. Focusing on the crucial procedures of movie making and the impact that technology had on each of the areas, this research would look at recent reforms in the pre-production part of film making, furthermore we will try to know the new instruments, equipment and storage facilities being used by modern film makers and producers. Film distribution and the adverse impacts that technology has had on the movie industry, majorly on the illegitimate sale and piracy of copyrighted material is scrutinized. Post-theatre film distribution and the revolutionary breakthrough technologies in the industry are explored to look at the continuous changes in education and exercise of professionals in the movie industry. Computer generated graphics and the growing impact ICT has made in the industry is covered and the future of the film industry is predicted. ICT played a lot of positive role in different aspect of the world today. It has touched the medical industries, educational sector, governmental sector and even the movie or film industries. This paper discourse on how ICT have positively impacted the movie/film industry today. If we all remember our young age, we probably think of the 1700s, 1800s, or 1900s when the movie we watch are all cassettes or analog, and probably not durable, with the help of ICT today we can see changes in the video technology in the present world. As revolution continues in the movie industries the impacts of ICT have made the following changes; Technological tools have changed the script writing procedures by making use of the internet, using digital editing tools. The internet is also been used by scriptwriters to forward their scripts to producers, directors and potential cast associates in other to be reviewed by each characters either by peer review in a way of online forums. There has been a crucial increase in the past decade in the use of digital video cameras for film with low budget planning along with high definition video which is set to compete and go beyond the standard 35mm film both in quality and flexibility (culkin & Randle 2003). The post production phase of movie making has possibly been the most important impacted by the new technological inclination. The introduction of non-linear technology has made the use of film edited manually inefficient and time consuming. This procedure involves fixing and putting together film in a virtual screen where the directors, producers, and editors view the output of the film on screen. (culkin & randle 2003. p. 8) The whole course of film making has been completely technology driven, everything from the distribution to the projection of movie to audiences (consumers). However, the absence of commercial agreements between distributors and exhibitors of the films has slowed down the conversion to digital technologies. For instance, only 170 cinemas around the globe have converted to what is recognized as high-end digital (culkin & Randle 2003). Profit margins for the studios are recognizably decreasing, now being out casted or outnumbered by the game industry. So satellite delivery have recently made its first implementation on film industry and reports has shown that upon full execution of film distribution, it can save the film industry of cost of $700 million per year. (markman). A major problem the movie industry has been facing for the past years since the introduction of technology in the industry is the piracy and copyright issue. For this reason copyrighted movies have been easily affordable more than the original film produced for distribution. For movie and music content, these lead to quite a few lawsuits against peer-to-peer networks and individuals as result for stealing and distribution of these movies and music materials. This will always be one of the major industries issues the industry would have to face since the public (consumers) has access to this low cost copyrighted material (peer-2-peer and DVD writers). Nevertheless, the movie industry has endeavored to decrease the risk of piracy of movies by creasing the (CSS) known as content scrambling system in which only authentic DVD or VCD products which contain a certain decryption algorithm can play the particular movie. The same technology also has the capability to rearrange the video and audio on the DVD/CD so that only a DVD with the same decryption algorithm can play the film perfectly. The CSS technology is also designed to prevent users from direct copying of data from DVDs. Though, not long after the CSS technology was introduced, Norwegian teenagers reverse engineered a DVD technology by breaking the code that contain the decryption algorithm and uploaded decryption software for users around the world to use. These means that the movie industry would need to keep updating and also find and option to this difficulties (markman). The post-theatre market accounts roughly for three quarters of movie’s income during its lifetime. The principal of these are video rental shops which accounts for nearly half of all profits (). The DVD has completely brought a new dimension to the industry, becoming the fastest growing customer electronics item of all time (culkin & Randle 2003). DVD’s have undeniably increased film studio’s income when it decided to provide movie content to the home consumers with unbelievable picture and sound quality which does not worn out like the old VHS cassettes (markman). A new and rapidly developing area in the distribution processes of film industries is â€Å"Movie on demand†. This is a scenario where consumers download their desire movie over the internet instead of going down to their local video store or cinema house. The advantage of this technology is that virtually reduction or no-fees are needed to access the movie and the inconvenience if any when travelling to the video rental store or cinema house (culkin & Randle 2003). Rapid changes in the movie industry in recent years have forced many professionals around the world in audio and graphic industries to acquire new and specialized skills. This is an ongoing development in most industries. An example is that the post-production industries are expected to have continuous upgrades of equipment and software which will lead to continual re-training of employees/crews which in turns increase production costs (culkin & Randle 2003). Future distributions might comprise allowing editors in different countries to editors in various countries to edit film by just gaining access to digitized media on a server without actually leaving the comfort of his or her house. Satellite distributions to cinemas are at the vanguard of future film circulations and distributions. George Lucas, the director of star wars is looking forward to using satellite technology to project the rest of the episode in cinemas. This process of digitally distribution of the film through data projectors is known as E-Cinema (& Randle 2003). It is not expensive and definitely flexible in terms of distribution power; nevertheless Cinemas who wish to implement this new technology would have to acquire substantial expenses when converting to digital projection. This technology is very much still in the development level and the impact is not really seen yet (& Randle 2003). Gregory Huang article titled â€Å"the new face of the movie industry† studies the development in computer animated graphics in past years. Recent blockbuster movies like Spiderman 3 are good examples of how far computer graphics have come in recent years. The movie industry have come to a stage in which every single event in film making process can be computer generated . In past years, the technology illustrations of faces have not looked real when seen a lot closer as it is easier to make non-human objects like dinosaurs real, moreover, improvements in rendering human body or skin, lighting or darkening digital scenes and examining human characters or actors are now allowing animation engineers to manage and take control of every sing movement of pixels in an animated format (skin). Huang (2004) reports that an average budget for a bestseller film cost approximately $150 million where it is exceptional to see more than 50% of funding allocated to just the computer generated effect which in turns raise revenue to about average of $700 million per year. At least we can say that there is no area within the movie industry that has not been impacted by technology over the past years. The major impacts for pre-production phase have been focused on the development of script-writing tools as well as the increase use of internet to distribute script to editors, directors and other important parties within the industry. Generally equipment costs have drastically increased drastically reduced at the same time quality and flexibility of products has increased. The confinement of non-linear technology has all but made hand edited or manually edited movies an extinct and fast-track the whole film editing process (culkin & Randle 2003). The major downside which has increased concerns around film industries around the world is that it has become extremely easy for consumers around the world to copy copyrighted movie material and this keep generating problems in the industries till date. Finally we can say that the advancement in technology would only continue to bring improvement in the movie industries around the world and it is definitely set to revolutionize the industries for years to come. REFERENCE Culkin, Nigel & Randle, Keith 2003, Facing the Digital Future: The Implications of Digital Technology for the Film Industry, University of Hertfordshire, Hertfordshire. Huang, Gregory 2004, The New Face of Hollywood, Technology Review, http://www. technologyreview. com/articles/04/09/huang0904. asp? p=0. Markman, David & Vega 2001, Mark, Digital Future: Movie Industry Tries to Keep One Step Ahead of Hackers, Daily Journal, Los Angeles.