For a majority of the movies, there has shown to be money reflecting the use of technology in almost all films now. The Movies discussed will show the importance of technology, plot, dimension, and money to find comparison with contrast of older and new films.
Movies have changed since 1965 buy the amounts of money they put into the film. This simultaneously advances technology making this one of the biggest reasons why movies are different today. There has also been a trend of violence in them with either killing, battle, or even hanging scenes throughout. This is what originally catches someone’s attention through trailers, however, most these movies keep the audience interested with their story lines as well. For the most part, movies today have been getting away from the mainstream affair. People want to see and experience something new and different. Of course there are still plenty of movies that “follow the rules” or that are conservative but the ones that test the limits have been proven to be successful. These films leave big impacts on the movie community setting the bar for future films. Movies are primarily ‘external shocks’ that use technology and changes in society. These influence each other by advancing together, as society grows so do movies capabilities. This can be seen as movies being the same throughout time, but it’s how the technology itself change along with how it is used. Everything about movies has changed, people could argue that the all have the same basic message to them, and that’s to deliver their message. Yet it’s how we receive this message, things like 3D, CGI, and even components like make up turn movies for a movie to a journey or an experience. When it comes down to it though, films are primarily a business and everyone wants to get paid. I say this because once a movie comes out its always discussed how much it grossed or what the box office is at. Also, why does it cost an arm and a leg to see a movie? Because they put millions and millions into it expecting a greater return. Yes, art, social, and politics do take part in movies, but primarily to get people interested.
The films Avatar, Hang’em High, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and House of Flying Daggers seem to be on totally opposite sides of the spectrum but for each era we can see similarities with technology and how as time goes on technology is continually growing with each film. Hang’em High was a very low budget film with very little special effects. They relied mainly on makeup and design to get scenes to seem more realistic. They also used actual outside weather like extreme heat, dusty/dirty desserts to help create real sweat and physical features. For this time there wasn’t many special add-ons you could create so with that low of a budget they created a good film supported by Clint Eastwood. Next, Avatar is a very high budget film relying on the special effects to create an amazing movie taking people on a journey to a world never seen before. Besides just using CGI it has an emotional story to keep people interested in all aspects. This is what society expects for its time, the simultaneous advancements are what’s changing movies. Sticking with story lines, TCM uses a true story to create one of the first most memorable horror movies that is still looked back on. It uses audio and certain camera angles to depict horrific scenes and capture actual fear from the actors. Finally, House of Flying Daggers is a Chinese film that uses both special effects in action and fight scenes along with a love story to connect the viewers emotionally. These Chinese movies with lots of animations were never something I found interest in but when watching and learning more about them, I started to find more of a liking in them.
Hang’em High was known as “A fistful of Dollars” because there was such a low budget. It came out in 1968 directed by Ted Post, starring Clint Eastwood. This became his first big Hollywood western movie. At first, the film wasn’t didn’t attract to many people and wasn’t seen as to be very good. Through time it created a strong reputation and became popular in the 1970’s. Roger Ebert reminded people that the film was so low budget that the extras were paid 50 cents a day and didn’t speak English. Yet, this added to the films western genre because they were dirty, sweaty, mean men who scratched a lot and spit tobacco everywhere. They used close up shots to capture the horrible wounds and the intensity of the actor’s facial expressions to put more focus on a real life feel. Plus, the action thrilling scenes were even more exciting knowing the Eastwood was doing all his own stunts like the lynching’s and even the rope tied around his neck when they dragged him across the Rio Grande. Besides some cheap scenes for this type of movie the visual and audio output was well done. Many close up shots were taking for emotion and quick changes in music really sets the mood and intensity for the audience. I personally think the quiet scenes with no music had the most power, just hearing the actor’s voices made certain parts very serious, however, a very heavy drop was soon to follow.
The movie Avatar is seen as this virtual journey through the CGI planet of Pandora. This movie really began development in 1994 and Cameron had written about 80 pages of the film. It was planned to start filming in 1999 after the completion of his movie, Titanic in 1997. However, he posts-pond it because he knew that their needed to be better technology to achieve the vision he had for the film. The movie was budgeted at $237 million and used extensive new motion capturing film techniques. It was recommended to watch the film in 3D because it amplified the viewing. There was also a couple 4D viewings in select theaters in South Korea. The advanced technology used reminds people off what can really be created that they have never imagined before. It effected society because it set the bar for the future of the film industry. The animation is used to wow the audience and get the interest of the public to get people wanting more. The original trailer does just that, it shows clips of the beautiful planet with mind blowing features along with its intense yet caring story line. However, this film does not necessarily connect to a certain period, it can be seen to the viewers of possibilities in advancement in the military in years to come. This movie did carry some controversy behind it, there was some backlash about the military aspects. People thought that it showed a bad reputation on the military and their forces used and the audience that viewed this would consider them the “bad guys”.
TCM was seen as the gateway to horror films and had improved and set the bar for the future. In this time period of the 70’s horror films were clearly made under budget with a lack in the story line. However, TCM had a strong start with a true story foundation that struck fear into the viewers before the even watched it. It used no CGI and relied on the story and horror to scare audiences into liking the movie. They also used more advanced methods of makeup and design to help their film stand out. With these new processes in place they were able to create scarier scenes, add a lot more extreme gore, and suspense. The producers and marketers made sure that they played to the audience’s likings, the would peruse certain theaters to help maximize profits. Even using a very rural environment helped the horror scenes and the money aspect. Since it was shot in Texas the scorching heat of August made the production famously arduous ordeal. The intensity of the set made the cast sets that much more realistic. It was said that degrees of 125 were an ongoing thing through the filming. The cast and crew can recall the rapidly rotting meat in the dressing smelling up the whole set. They claimed that getting these scenes over as fast as possible was ideal. This film was not seen respectable at the time, basically disreputable so playing off the audience, time period, and even things like marijuana to create a popular film. For the most part they connected their film to the current trends in society. In one’s eyes they might question what a “cheap” film is. This film shows actual emotions and clearly tells the true horror story of what went down. It is seen as the perfect horror film and is one of the most emulated genre films since it came out. Hooper uses post-Watergate and post-Vietnam cultural to connect the era to the film politically.
Lastly, House of Flying Daggers used expensive thrills with lots of computer animation and special effects to create an art/commercial film on a national scale. It was said by Stephen Hunter that “it’s not like going to a movie so much as going to a truly superb brothel. That is, pleasure is available in every room, in every configuration, in all possibilities, in polymorphic abandon. It doesn’t treat you gently, it ravishes you.” He emphasizes the romantic adventure feel with nobility and betrayal throughout. Love and conflict seems to be the main emotion through the film but both appear to have a deeper meaning. These are the attention grabbers that get the possible viewers wanting more. This movie does a good job on a national level because director Zhang Yimou started his American popularity in the 1990’s. These Asian/Chinese inspired films with mass amounts of special effect, art, and cultural history are styles to have started becoming adapted around the world. This audience is reached through emotion and spectacle, using the trends of their crafted art. Politically, China has been seemed as a communist state, a mix repressive communism to a hard core capitalism. The film industry still confines to many restrictions to what they feel should be an open national mark.