Technological Advancements On The Film Industry Media Essay

Technological Advancements On The Film Industry Media Essay Abstract There are mainly three parts when it comes to the impact of technology on the film industry. The first part is how the new tools has benefited or harmed the film industry. These tools include the camera technology, video editing software, adding special effects etc. The second part is how technology has affected the marketing and the audience of the film makers. How the rise of social networks and Web 2.0 world has affected the communication, advertising and distribution of their products with their audience. This will also include the new HD media distribution methods like Blu Ray and HD-DVD that provide better quality for their audience. The third part is about how technology has actually hurt the film industry. The main focus of this area will be about how different technologies have violated the copyright laws. Introduction The film industry has benefited a lot from the ever growing new technology. With the rise of digital filmmaking over the years motion pictures are once again going through a reinvention. One of the biggest benefits the film industry has had with technology is camera technology. With the cheap digital cameras available these days it has been relatively easier for small film companies to produce films. Also more films are produced these days because it is faster to produce films. Now it is also easier and less expensive these days to communicate and share media with the audience with the rise of multimedia mobile phones. Also the audience feedback is given faster and easier. Another biggest benefit of new technology is that it has saved a lot of time in making documentaries and movies. This is because of the new compact digital cameras with ample space. The internet has also had a very big effect on the film industry. Web 2.0 sites like YouTube and other video sites have enabled film makers to interact with their audience more easily. This has also enhanced the relationship with the audience. Article Cited From: (How Digital Technology has Changed) Plan of action My primary medium of research will be the internet. I think there is a plenty research material available on the internet that will be helpful in my research. There will be several case studies that will focus on how technology has helped the film industry. One of the leading case studies will be of recently released movie by James Cameron Avatar. This film is entirely based on animation and special effects. Next I plan on contacting some of the animation and small film businesses and find out their views on how new technology has affected how they produce films. Media Distribution Methods In the past media distribution methods were limited to video tapes and cassettes where the quality of the video was not as good as today and they used random access. This meant that it was not possible to skip directly to a scene. The most common media distribution method currently is the DVD. New technologies like Blu-ray and HD-DVD are also becoming famous. DVDs are one of the cheapest ways to distribute films and the this has been the standard distribution method for films for quite some time. Over the past year Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are becoming more famous and could soon replace the older method like DVD. The reason they are becoming more famous is because of the quality they offer. Users can now enjoy movies on very high definition which is upto 1080p, the highest definition available. The introduction to these new media distribution methods has had both, a good and a bad effect. The advantage the film industry had with this is that they were to charge a premium price for higher quality movies compared to standard quality DVDs and this, in many cases, resulted more profits for them. On the other hand, since people now have access to high quality movies from the comfort of their homes, visit the cinemas less often. Film Animation Tools Autodesk Maya And Film The leading animation software today comes from Autodesk. The two very famous softwares they make are Autodesk Maya and Autodesk 3ds Max. These two have been used in numerous movies to edit and animate characters. Some animated movies like Monsters Vs Aliens and Avatar. The latest development in digital camera and computer graphics (CG), stereoscopy, is becoming more famous in films these days. Stereoscopic technology uses the characteristics of the human vision which can make characters or objects appear at the front or behind the cinema screen. This creates an illusion of depth. Autodesk Maya enables users to view, create and edit stereoscopic content and enables film makers to uses stereo as a powerful way to help in story telling. The advantage this has is that the audience were drawn more deeply into the movie experience because of the new standards it sets in stereoscopic 3D production using Autodesk tools. (Autodesk Film AVATAR) Fully Featured Animated Film Using Autodesk 9 On 9th September 2009, the movie 9 was released. This was a fully featured animated film with every frame featuring Computer generated inages and characters. All this was matched up with multilayered computer generated images and advanced 3D lighting and camera effects. This whole animated film was made using Autodesk Maya animation software and Autodesk mudbox a sculpting software. With these two tools, all the creative and technical demands this animated 3D film had were met. Autodesk To The Rescue During the making of this movie, animators faced quite a few challenges. The very first challenge faced by the animation team was the timeframe that the work had to be completed in. 14 months. This included everything from start to finish the way the characters looked, the storyline itself, how they would move and the animatics. For the team this seemed an impossible task within the timeframe given and the level of detail and complexity required. During the movie there were a lot of scenes where the characters that dynamically interacted with each other at the same time. There were a lot of virtual stunts done in the movie with characters that had very fine, stretchy burlap mesh with a rigid zipper in front and visible stitching. These mesh textures were really a challenge for the animation team, especially when the characters moved and the animation was difficult. It was a challenge but Autodesk Maya had the capability to accomplish these tasks although it did put Maya to test. All these challenges were met by both Autodesk Maya and Autodesk MudBox. Maya handled most of the challenges like the asset creation, virtual camera and the multilayered 3D animation and all the effects. MudBox helped alongside with Maya to make the highly detailed shapes and models and the ground texture. Animation software like Autodesk Maya has helped the film industry to create movies like these. Without the use of such software, making of such movies would have been impossible. One of the members of the team, Adams, said that Maya is a very robust, fast and it has enabled us to make highly complex 3D structures, a lot of camera moves, explosions and lighting effects. He also states that Autodesk Maya was the best solution that they could have used to make a movie such as 9. (Autodesk Starz Animation) Case Study: The Technology behind The Making Of Avatar Performance Capture While CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) and motion capture is not very new to the film industry, performance capture is something that was just recently invented specially for this movie. As mentioned earlier that Motion Capture is done by placing reflecting markers all over an actors body and these are then interpreted by the computer and converted into CGI. However the difference between a real human expression and computer generated is quite noticeable. Performance capture is something different. In performance capture actors are supposed to wear special head gear which has a camera attached to it which records each and every muscle movement and converts them into digital media. Stereoscopic 3D Fusion Camera System After seven years of research and hard work James Cameron, the director of Avatar, along with his partner, Vince Pace, came up with the most advanced 3D lightweight camera that can shoot both in 2D and 3D mode. Before this invention 3D cameras were very big and weighed about 450 pounds. Digital Animation For this movie the digital animation was done by Peter Jacksons company, Weta Digital. Very professional artists turned the basic renderings into photo-real images using new breakthrough techniques in lighting and shading. Virtual Camera/Simul Camera For this movie two new kinds of cameras were also invented. The virtual camera and the simul camera which work together. The virtual camera isnt a real camera at all but it stimulates another camera that was transmitted computer generated images by super computers. What the simul camera did what fed real time computer generated images to the 3D fusion camera system. Use of Autodesk Digital Entertainment Creation Tools For this movie, James Cameron and his team developed a new way to develop innovative visual effects using advanced virtual cinematography techniques. Using the software a virtual stage was created in which the performance of actors would be captured, applied to computer generated characters and also the ability to view the results in real time. The uncanny valley, which is the noticeable difference between real life human characters and computer generated characters, was overcome by using advanced performance capture and visual Source: (Avatar Behind The Scenes) Motion Capture Motion Capture has been used in the film industry very often. The most basic definition of motion capture is recording the movement and translating that movement into a digital model. To achieve this actors in movies wear reflective markers all over their body which are then interpreted by a computer and turned into digital 3D models. Advantages Of Motion Capture Very fast and it is possible to achieve real time results. Because of this the cost of keyframe animation can be reduced. Very complex movements can be recreated. The amount of animation data that can be gathered is very large. This saves a lot of time. Disadvantages Of Motion Capture Special hardware and software is needed to execute motion capture Movements that do not follow the law of physics can generally not be captured. (Motion Capture) Film Industry and Web 2.0 The amount of users using the Internet these days have grown dramatically over the past years. This has allowed the film industry to reach their audience more easily through online advertising and by the use of social networks such as Facebook, YouTube. Search Engines The internet revolves around Google. The term search online these days means using one of the major search engines. These are either Google, Yahoo or Bing. Search engines also have an impact on the film industry. New movies coming out have their own websites and these are found mostly by search engines showing the relevant results and showing the movie website when users search online for it through search engines. This is the way the relevant websites of movies are found and they reach wider audience. Facebook With over 500 million users on Facebook, this has become an enormous platform to advertise on for film makers of their latest upcoming movies. One of the main reasons Facebook is a huge marketing advantage for film makers is because of the ability for information to be spread virally on it. Facebook groups and fan pages are liked by thousands of Facebook users daily and these are very viral in nature. It is not very uncommon to see a Facebook Fan Page having liked by millions of Facebook users. The above mentioned marketing methods are in fact free and it doesnt cost anything for film makers to create a these pages and they eventually become viral. Facebook also has a paid advertising program that can be used to market just about anything. Fanpages are a great way to know your audience better. Facebook is all about conversation and interaction with people which is why film makers can interact with their audience more easily, ask for their opinions and get to know what they want. There is one main advantage to why paid advertising on Facebook is the best. The reason is because you one can get ultra-targeted audience from Facebook due to all the information that users put on their profile. (Facebook Stats) Above is a screen shot of information from a Facebook users profile. All the information put is put here by the user itself and it contains information about the users location, college/school, sex, martial status, their likes and interests and hobbies. Facebook uses this information to target the right audience through their advertising program. Whenever an advertiser wishes to create an advertising campaign with Facebook he/she is presented with a number of targeting options. These options include the following: Age Location Sex Marital Status Education And Work Likes And Interests Advertisers on Facebook can target their audience based on all of these above criteria which enables them to target only the kind of people that might be interested in what they are advertising, which in this case are movies. YouTube Now owned by Google, YouTube is the most famous video sharing site on the Internet. YouTube has both good and bad effects on the film industry. According to the stats from YouTube.com itself and other sites like website-monitoring.com YouTube exceeds 2 billion views per day. An estimated number of 24 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every single minute and an average person spends about 15 minutes per day on YouTube. Film Makers know this and have had an enormous marketing advantage and have reached a more wider audience because of this. YouTube has made a separate page especially for movie trailers where they can be uploaded and then made public. YouTube, like most other Web 2.0 sites engages conversation among the viewers and visitors that come and watch videos and movie trailers. This is yet another advantage to the film industry as they can know the opinions of their viewers and get their feedback. Another great feature of YouTube is its ability to share the video virally on other social network sites like Facebook MySpace and others. An estimated number of 46.2 years of video is watched a day from Facebook itself. One important aspect of these Web 2.0 sites is that most of them are interlinked. For example you can use your Facebook account of sign in to several Web 2.0 sites. This makes information on the internet very viral in nature which is a benefit for advertisers. The disadvantage of YouTube is that currently there are about 7,000 hours of movies and TV shows that are put up on YouTube for users to watch for free. Some of these videos uploaded do break the copyright law. These videos are continuously being uploaded on YouTube and there is little that can be done about this. This is just one of the several video sharing sites. There are also others like Vimeo also where copyrighted material are being uploaded every single day by users. (Youtube Facts) Social Bookmarking Social bookmarking is when users bookmark a certain website or web page that they have found interesting and this is then publically viewable to all the other users on that social bookmarking website. Two of the very famous social bookmarking websites online today are Digg and Delicious. These social bookmarking websites are again a great way for information on movies, film to go viral and reach a lot of people. It is again possible to sign into most of these social networks using your Facebook account. One such social bookmarking site is Digg. Disadvantages Of Web 2.0 Broadband Internet Ever since broadband internet was introduced, internet users have been able to enjoy higher speeds in downloads and uploads. This has given a rise in piracy. It is said that one inn four people have illegally downloaded a film. The film studios say that piracy on the net has cost them billions of dollars in losses. The estimated figure as of the year 2006 is $20 billion. It is said that film piracy is going to increase as more people shift to broadband and can download files at higher speeds. (Online Film Piracy Set To Rise) (Film Piracy Cost The Economy $20 billion) File Sharing Sites The main disadvantages when it comes to the internet and Web 2.0 are copyright issues. Since digital data can be easily copied it is very common to see movies being shared on File sharing sites and discussion boards. A lot of these file sharing sites have their servers off-shore, in some other countries where copyright laws dont apply to them. This means that it is possible for them to have lot of copyrighted material on them and users from anywhere in the world is able to download them simply with the click of a mouse button. Peer 2 Peer Networks P2P and torrent sites have become a very common way to share files on the internet. All that is needed is a small piece of software installed on a computer that allows a user to share files directly from their computer. This way millions of users can openly share whatever is on their hard drive with other users on the peer to peer network. This makes it very easy to share pirated movies across the internet. File Sharing Message Boards The term Warez refers to copyrighted material being shared for free and this term is very famous on the internet. A lot of forums and message boards are specially made for this purpose and millions of users download movies and tons of other copyrighted material for free which does a significant harm to the film industry. Portable Digital Cameras Recent portable digital cameras and camcorders have given a rise to piracy. It is now very easy for users to take a portable camcorder or camera into a cinema and record the movie during the runtime. This recording is then sold on DVDs and/or uploaded on file sharing sites and/or peer to peer networks. Conclusion And Evaluation The leap in Digital Animation software has helped the film industry in making more detailed, 3D animated films. Web 2.0 has played a major part in the success of the booming film industry that is present today. With the help of social networks and its viral features, the marketing of new movies have become very easy and also cost effective. Although film piracy is on the rise and more people are using camcorders in theatres and copying off DVDs and posting them on the internet, the film industry has shown a significant amount of growth. Film piracy has cost them millions of dollars but yet film revenues have tripled over the last 25 years. Newly developed CG techniques like performance capture have started a new era to the film industry which is going to lead them into making more better films. It is clear from the above information presented that the advantages of what then new technological advancements have done for the film industry clearly outweigh the disadvantages. 3D cameras and state of the art animation and editing have lead todays movies to be more enjoyable and fun to watch. (The Fact And Fiction Of Camcorder Piracy)

Letter to cousin requesting funding for new business

Dear Ms. Smith: I am sure you remember me although we have not seen each other for a long time. I am Jack Hanson, the son of your cousin Judith Hanson, born Smith. We last met at the Smith family reunion in Atlanta, Georgia – I was still an undergrad back then with big plans. Now I have arrived at a point in my life where I believe myself ready to make these big plans reality, and in the nearest future my friends and I plan to open a small local store that will specialize in special occasion gift baskets for individual and corporate clients. With my friends’ expertise and background and my enthusiasm I am positive that we will make our venture successful. A visit to the proposed location has convinced me that we have great opportunities ahead, and the uniqueness of our proposition will make it stand out from the competition. All we need to succeed is additional start-up capital to complement our resources. I have strong belief that if you agree to participate in the venture, we will be able to put your money to good use and bring you a nice return on your investment. As I stated above, we plan to launch a store that will sell gift baskets for individual and corporate clients. To make our offerings even more attractive, we want to add ethnic, natural beauty products and spa quality botanicals. This will add an original touch and make our gift assortment the best in the locality. We already have a plan to make the interior design of the store fascinating and comfortable to create for our customers an atmosphere of holiday which they step in buying gifts for their friends and colleagues. Our short-term goal is to build a reputation in the city of Bridgeport and neighboring towns; as soon as our business has the resources to expand, we will be willing to move beyond Bridgeport and possibly Connecticut. However, repayment of your investment will in any case take precedence. If you decide to invest, we can discuss several options. One is that you invest for seven years, and begin to receive interest on your investment starting with the 2nd year of the store’s operation and recoup the lump-sum after another five years. If you want to contribute for a longer time period, you will have an opportunity to share in the profit from the store for a longer time period, for instance, getting a percentage of the profit for 10 or more years. If I were you, I would choose the latter option, because, in my opinion, the store is ‘doomed’ to succeed.   First, the area is really rich in companies of different kinds, and all of them need to purchase gift baskets for their employees. Besides, I have driven around the streets for a few hours and found only two stores that could remotely be described as gift stores. Entering them, I discovered a meagre assortment of goods that will make it really difficult for them to compete with us. Basically, local people unwilling to travel large distances have to shop for gifts in department stores like Wal-Mart or Target, and these, as you know, are hardly the best place for gifts. Besides, to differentiate ourselves from the already present gift stores, we will offer customers a modern design and additional services, such as vintage packaging for their goods, at a modest price. I rely on the experience of my friend who for five years worked as assistant manager in a gift store, and he says that the place is ideal for the venture. Now I want to thank you for the time you invested in reading this letter. I assure you that I would not be offering you to take part in the project, did I not have deep trust that it will be a successful venture. I invite you to meet with me and my friends who want to participate and visit the place that we plan to rent for our store. We can also forward you a proposed catalog of our products at any time. We have already prepared a business plan in which we â€Å"back up our concepts with numbers† that I will be glad to forward to you as well (â€Å"75 StartUp Secrets†, 2006).   I hope that you will have a chance to evaluate all the pros and cons of this investment and decide to help us in this business. On my part, I can promise that the return will exceed any comparable return on other investment available. I will be glad to hear from you on this subject and meet in person, reviving old family ties and starting new business connections. Sincerely yours, Jack Hanson References 75 StartUp Secrets. (2006, March). Enterpreneur.com. Retrieved March 27, 2006, from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,326420,00.html Internal Revenue Service. Starting a Business. Retrieved March 27, 2006, from http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article

Evaluation of the Role of the Internet in Higher Education.

An Evaluation of the role of the Internet In higher education. Today ‘s learner exist In a digital age. A wide range of web tools and software Is available and the Internet offers access to apparently endless sources of Information. Pupils as well as students at university have to deal with the technologies if they want to succeed.Pupils in school mostly use the computer for typing essays and looking up information for presentations, whereas students at university need access o the internet to manage their daily university routine, their whole study depends on the internet. Data bases for course and exam registration for instance, to mention just one important fact . Mark Seersucker had good reasons to explore the value of the internet and establish the social network faceable, originally established for students to get in contact with each other.Even tutors use the features of faceable to Interact with their students. The Internet offers completely new possibilities of procedu res to the schools and university systems. Easy registration for Individual chosen courses, blending learning lasses, online shared Information on specific data bases, online tutorials for help and even online exams are current methods which are well known by any student. Learning materials are being digitized and put up on data bases.And the best thing about it is that the internet applications and software you need are for free, once you have got the general equipment. Offerings of online study courses given by so called â€Å"Open Universities† enable students of any age to take study courses and graduate with diplomas. The US increase the choice of different study courses available to students regardless of their location. Another aspect to mention is the better situation for those who has to earn money beside university, to afford high study fees for Instance, since time management Is easier and free.Yet, despite all the positive things and possibilities that are opened up by the Internet, there are always some critical aspects. Using Internet meaner at flirts having all the equipment and extras you need and second having the skills to use it at all. Very often it is taken for granted that all students possess equal competence with technology but that's not the case. Some students are even forced to Join social networks against their good will.Since internet based education will be the future it is necessary to teach pupils how to use the internet, let them know about the dangers and convey the competence of evaluating internet sources. M. Len. University 2. 0 – An Evaluation of the role of the internet in higher education. Today's learner exist in a digital age. A wide range of web tools and software is available and the internet offers access to apparently endless sources of information. Each other. Even tutors use the features of faceable to interact with their students.The internet offers completely new possibilities of procedures to the schools and university systems. Easy registration for individual chosen courses, blending learning classes, online shared information on specific data bases, online tutorials for help study fees for instance, since time management is easier and free. Yet, despite all the positive things and possibilities that are opened up by the internet, there are always some critical aspects. Using internet meaner at first having technology but that ‘s not the case. Some students are even forced to Join social

Comparison and Contrasting Between 3 poems - The Flea...

Comparison and Contrasting Between 3 poems: - The Flea (John Donne), Shall I Compare Thee To A Summers Day (William Shakespeare), and Jenny Kissed Me (James Leigh Hunt) These three love poems or sonnets were all written pre 1914 but by very different writers. The authors of these poems use different styles of writing love poetry. For instance, John Donny is very clever. His poem, The Flea brings out an angle of smart sayings to get people to have sex. William Shakespeare focuses more on actually love, while James Leigh Hunt focuses primarily on a blunt approach. Two of these three poems are very short, merely one verse if you can call them that. Jenny Kissed Me by James Leigh Hunt rhymes creating a quicker tempo and†¦show more content†¦However, the sonnet equals itself out and begins to show that a summers day can be horrible, referring to the sun through a metaphor as the eye of heaven. Shakespeare writes about the sun being too hot in summer sometimes, Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines. The flea is a sex-orientated poem written in a clever way basically asking someone to have sex. It is written in three stanzas. The first is where the flea sucks the blood of both people combining them as one. Donne is trying to persuade the woman in his poem to have sex with the male character. And in this flea, our two bloods mingled bee. The male character goes on to imply that this is a good reason to have sex. And this, alas, is more than wee would doe. Donne tries to make the point that if something can enjoy food picked from both of them, why cant they each enjoy a sexual relationship with each other. In the second stanza, Donne goes on to make the point that the flea is a sign of some sort. Even though the parents object to the two people marrying, Donne implies it is the right thing to do, as the two have already been mingled inside another. Where wee almost, nay more than maryed are: and that they should then have sex right then and there Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is; Though parents grudge, and you, ware met. Finally, Donne starts to use some flattery. He tries to help her, knowing that this woman would not want to have sex before marriage. InShow MoreRelatedLove in To His Coy Mistress and The Flea Essay1850 Words   |  8 PagesLove in To His Coy Mistress and The Flea Both To His Coy Mistress, by Andrew Marvell (1621-1678) and The Flea, by John Donne (1572-1631) present different attitudes to love. Both are also structured very differently and occasionally use contrasting imagery. Each poem was written in the 17th century, just after the Renaissance. The poets were metaphysical poets. Although the metaphysic was originally a derogatory term, metaphysical poetry used intellectual and theological