FrançaisInspired by the Blog article: “How Long Until A Feature Film Made on the iPhone is in Theaters” by Peter Hall, our Intern Heather Poole gives her opinion on the future of Filmmaking:
The new iPhone 4G is the latest edition to the Apple revolution but is it the beginning of the end for the big screen in cinema?
By: Heather Poole, ECU 2011 Festival Intern
With new technologies constantly emerging, it’s no wonder that the culture in which we view films, television, and other modes of media is almost unrecognizable from 5 minutes ago. In my brief time as an intern at ECU, I’ve been researching and learning about the various and rising trends in filmmaking, most recently the use of mobile technologies.
In light of the anticipated arrival of the new iPhone 4G, this article written by Peter Hall for Cinematical inquires how long will it take until a feature film is made entirely on the iPhone 4G. But the article also raises a series of issues in the way we consume and produce media.
With the iMovie application, users are now able to film and edit on the new iPhone. Yet does this new application make anyone a filmmaker? Will it be a tool to simply capture candid moments that would otherwise be undocumented? Or will it further the drastic transformation in cinema by providing a new technique to create low budget films?
Although the new iPhone 4G is, without a doubt, an innovative piece of technology that brings the art of cinema literally to the palm of your hand, do filmmakers even want their films to be degraded to a miniscule 3-inch screen? And even if this new form of watching media is more available, more accessible, anytime anywhere, what will happen to the importance of the quality of cinema?
Perhaps I’m old school for my generation but I feel that a certain loss comes with the advancement of technology. With streamed videos and films now available on the iPhone, the tools to enjoy media and connections to the outside world have been integrated onto one device. Cinema has been a way for society to escape from the outside world, to vicariously enjoy the emotions of the characters on the screen, to become completely immersed in the beauty of the moving image. Yet as film and other types of media have proliferated through different mediums, from the big screen to television to computer and now to the iPhone, it is no longer the grand experience it once was.
Despite my skepticism, the new iPhone is another gateway for artistic expression in this age of technology. Mainstream events like the upcoming Pocket Film Festival in Paris this weekend which the ECU Creative Content Team will be covering, celebrates the creation of various medias via mobile technologies.
Death of the big screen? Perhaps, but events like the Pocket Film Festival foster this advanced technology as a creation of a revolutionized type of media and film that characterizes our day and age.
