FilmI have been researching the area of moving images; my research has mainly consisted of films and filmmakers so this will be what my essay will my based on. Film over the past few years especially during recent years has had a dramatic increase of technological advances that help give filmmakers a lot more visual capabilities, for example the use of CGI, which in turn allows for a more visually exciting film experience. As for early film making in the early 1930’s to mid 20th century were very revolutionary as filmmakers back then had to be creative with their technological limitations so they could pull off any special effects like the creation of "King Kong" and the innovative camera and editing techniques used to make the film "Citizen Kane". This essay will explore how filmmaking over the years has changed and how different film directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan have added to the film industry.

Earlier films

King Kong

Being a movie that involves a large ape of course it would be a challenge to create without the use of computers. The great ape and other monsters on Skull Island were created by mostly using stop motion figures and miniature sets, the fact that had never really been done before the finished animation did come off as a little bit rough

and jumpy. Despite this audiences never seen anything like this before so the slight jumpiness was forgiven.

The model of King Kong was based on the skeleton on an ape and several copies of King Kong were made many with varying size.

http://www.filmsite.org/kingk.html

Godzilla

Like King Kong, Godzilla is another film with a giant monstrous creature made later in 1954 was made using different techniques. During the production of Godzilla, the creature was made by having someone wear a Godzilla body suit and miniature set of a city for them to walk around in. This would help avoid the jerkiness of the stop motion used with King Kong but at the same time it being a man playing a giant reptile he wasn’t quite able to portray the characteristics of a dinosaur.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Mk5qNMnx8U

Snow White and the seven Dwarfs

The First animated movie that was with both sound and color as well as being one of Walt Disney’s greatest films, paving the way for the future of the

most successful and largest competitor in the entertainment industry.

Plus Snow White being the first animated film with sound it also released the first motion picture soundtrack album. Walt Disney went on to win an Honorary Oscar for the making a noteworthy innovation to the film industry. Walt Disney then went on to make other classic animated movies like:

Pinochio Dumbo Bambi

http://www.filmsite.org/snow.html

Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane is considered to be the best film ever made even by today’s standards. Director Orson wells was very innovative with the cinematography using shots like montages, tracking shots, whip pans and lengthy takes. He also used a variety of editing techniques like overlapping dialogue and by using non-linear storytelling.

http:// www.filmsite.org/1941- filmhistory.html

Modern Films

Lord of the Rings

A movie set in a mythical world filled with mythical creatures will have to rely a lot on special effects, So The Lord of the Rings trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson used several ground

breaking practical and digital visual effects. Some visual effects may even surprise people to find out that aren’t CGI, for example:

Elijah woods (who is a relatively normal sized human) character, Frodo Baggins who is a three-foot tall hobbit was created by "forced perspective". Having one actor really far from the camera and the other actor really close to the camera makes this effect. Then have the camera shot at a certain angle to make it appear as if they are right next to each other one actor being large and the other being small.

An example of this being used is when Frodo and Gandalf are sitting next to each other on a cart. The real cart in fact has the camera is built in place and Elijah Woods is sitting four feet behind Ian McKellen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_effects_of_The_Lord_of_the_Rings_film_series

Batman Begins

Directed by Christopher Nolan, Batman Begins was a gritty reboot of one of the most popular superheroes, Batman. This film was very realistic and grounded in reality, which raised the standards of the superhero genre. Originally the film was supposed to be a stand-alone film but with such spectacular reviews complementing the complex character development and amazing practical effects it went on to become a trilogy with both sequels making over one billion dollars each.

Inception Inception is a science fiction heist thriller, which is again directed by Christopher Nolan starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional thief that steals information by entering the sub-conscious of a person. The Movie went on to win four Academy Awards and made over $800 million worldwide.

Inception is an extremely complex film with many discussing the ending whether main character Dom Cobbs is still in

a dream or is in reality when he goes home. Many theorists have gone into great detail of their arguments by noticing the smallest of things (like character Dom Cobbs appears to only have his wedding ring on when he is dreaming). Others think the film is a metaphor for filmmaking itself.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inception

Early Film Directors

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock was a major director of film that practically birthed the thriller genre and was known as 'The Master of Suspense'.

An example of him creating suspense is where he would often start his films of establishing a happy setting because Hitchcock believed, 'the more happy-go-lucky the setting, the greater the kick you get from the sudden introduction of drama'.

He also knew when 'not to cut' and letting a single shot linger on which would help add tension to the moment.

Alfred Hitchcock also had a technique with camera work with following the eyes. When a character would see something off screen the camera would cut to the characters point of view and then cut back for the characters reaction. This would help audience members to connect with the character by understanding what they’re thinking or feeling.

http://nofilmschool.com/2014/12/6-cinematic-techniques-alfred-hitchcock-create-suspense-tvhttp://hitchcock.tv/bio/bio.html

Walt Disney

Walt Disney was an animator, voice actor and film director who founded 'The Walt Disney Company which is the biggest entertainment industry to date. He gained his fondness for animation when he started selling his drawings and artwork to neighbours. He would then go on to become newspaper artist after he was rejected from the army.

From there Disney went on to work for Kansas City Film Ad Company where he used cut-out animation to make commercials, during his time working there he also experimented with cel animation. This convinced Disney to open his own business and made a deal with Kansas City Theatre to screen his cartoons. Years later when sound was

incorporated into film Disney decided to voice his iconic character 'Mickey Mouse' which became a huge success. In 1937 Walt Disney successfully made his first animated full-length film 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' which became the highest grossing film that year and won eight Oscars.

http://www.biography.com/people/walt-disney-9275533

Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin, born in 1889 who became one of the biggest silent film actors in history. Chaplin relied on his animated and quirky mannerisms to become a silent film movie star, he then went on to become director of such films like “Modern Times” and “The Great Dictator”. Both with observations about the state of the world at the time.

In 1936, “Modern Times” was a commentary about how the world economics and political Infrastructures and made by Chaplin after he witnessed immense economic angst and an increase of nationalism in Europe.

Chaplin made “The Great Dictator” in 1941 during the terror of Hitler’s reign and Chaplin added, “I want to see the return of decency and kindness” during the films release.

http://www.biography.com/people/charlie-chaplin-9244327#synopsis

Modern film Directors

Christopher Nolan

The Director of The Dark Knight trilogy and Inception, Christopher Nolan studied English literature and went the college film society being a self-taught filmmaker making short. He went on to make a small budget film, “Following”, this helped start his film career.

Nolan uses several techniques to help make his movies enticing and gripping like using long tracking shots in stressful situations, having cameras hand held to help scenes seem more realistic and using non linear storytelling to make the audience focus and pay attention to what’s going on.

Nolan also tends to try and use as little CGI as possible, this can be seen in 'The Dark Knight' where in a violent car chase scene where a lorry truck is smashed into the ceiling of the tunnel instead of using CGI Nolan used a miniature set and models to film the scene.

https://prezi.com/u3hnzt6lbg4i/christopher-nolans-unique-style-of-filmmaking/https://storify.com/smathew4/an-inside-look-of-christopher-nolan-s-life-and-fil

Steven Speilberg

Steven Speilberg, director of such hits like: Jaws and Indiana Jones who is well known for his storytelling in films. As well as the creator of the filming technique, 'The Speilberg Face'. This would be where the camera would zoom in on a characters face as they are looking at something and then films their reaction before revealing what it is they're looking at, this is done as frequently one of his earlier films, 'Close Encounters'.

Speilberg also put much attention into the soundtracks as it helps make the movie memorable such as the theme from Jaws theme from 1975 that starts slow and then picks up pace as the shark approaches, or the Indiana Jones theme with the triumphant adventurous tone to it.

http://www.cinelinx.com/movie-stuff/item/6309-directors-trademarks-steven-spielberg.html

Here it is clear to see that even though with the introduction of CGI over recent years, film directors still use more practical techniques to successfully pull off special effects rather than rely fully on CGI. Although CGI allows filmmakers more creative freedom it is not always the go to for special effects as some directors may feel that doing more practical effects may have a more realistic feel to it. CGI is definatly likely to improve in the future but filmmakers may still prefer to use more practical and traditional techniques.