Research Paper on 21st Century Cinema

Introduction

For one to adequately delve into the current 21st Century cinema, the past has to be considered it is important to first and foremost define what cinema is. Cinema is derived from the term cinematography which means the illusion of movement which is caused by projecting still photographs in a rapid manner. This paper will seek to look at the various advances in cinema over the centuries and critically analyzing the film making industry. To better illustrate the changes I will draw comparisons between popular films in the past and those of the 21st Century.

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The invention of media cannot be attributed to anyone. However, an American company by the name Edison was the first to give a proper demonstration of the Kinetoscope which was an invention that allowed a person to view moving pictures, and this was in the late 18th Century. In 1895 there was a major landmark in the cinema industry when the Lumiere Brothers projected moving pictures to an audience. The nature of films at that time was short and only for important information.

In the 19th Century, significant progress was made in the film industry; many countries ad their own industries such as the Russians and Europeans. The mode of storytelling changed AS WELL in contrast with the 18th Century the 19th Century focused more on narratives and storytelling. The duration of the films was also longer, and there was a storyline for them. When the film became commercialized, the industry grew in leaps and bounds. Investors were willing to invest huge amounts of money with the hope of returns. As a result of the cash flow, both from the paying public and the investor's large studios were built and new technology invented to meet the growing demand. The ongoing growth of the film industry was halted in the advent of the 1st World War (WW1). Europe was greatly affected out of all other countries .the greatest development in this century was THE introduction of narratives in movies and the improvement in technology

Color is also a major factor when looking back at history. In the 18th Century, films were entirely black and white, Fast forward to the 19th century were in color termed as a natural color. However the cost of creating a film in color was so high that the process was halted and reintroduced in the mid-nineteenth century with the invention of the three color process.

The first movie that had synchronized dialogue was the Jazz Singer an American film made in 1927 by the Warner Brothers they were able to achieve this by using a vita phone system. The system was an on-disc system, whereby each disc had a different reel of film which would be used for the sound. The system proved not to be effective leading to a system where the sound was recorded in a photographic manner along the edges of a film. IN 1930 and almost all films had a synchronized sound system and were in color. Films at that time were the primary source of entertainment. In Britain, for example, a record number of over thirty million visited the cinemas in a weekly duration.

Televisions were invented in the 1950s, and this created an aspect of competition with the cinemas. But people still preferred the cinema especially with the invention of Cinemascope which considerably increased the aspect ratio. Stereo sound was also added to the widescreen experience. Cinema had successfully retained its niche with the invention of the television. However, it never regained the same effect it had in the '40s which was termed as the "golden age". By the late 19th century the number of people who visited cinemas had significantly dwindled.

The question therefore is, is cinema still cinema putting into consideration the factors stated above and looking at the historical perspective. To better answer this question, I will look at three of the most critically acclaimed films of the 21st Century. My main area of focus will be on the effects of advancements of technology in relation to imaging and picture quality. As discussed above the transition has been from black and white to high definition images. I believe that technology has highly revolutionized the 21st-century film industry (Nowell-Smith,2012).

Since my theme is focused on color, I will look at three films that have different variations and use of modern techniques in the coloring: The Dark Knight Rises, The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. A huge difference is seen in the 21st Century; not only are the film's colors, but the colors can be manipulated to convey a message or evoke a feeling. A color pallet in films is a way in which filmmakers visually enhance parts of a film that they intend to evoke emotions. A color pallet or scheme is the character of the film. A color pallet influences the color theory of a film, for instance, a happy scene will be characterized by bright colors while a somber film will tend to have dull coloring's the theory of film color leverages on the sense of seeing to psychologically impact the viewer.

The Dark Knight Rises is a film that used color to set the mood of the movie, a brief plot of the movie is the main character of the film Batman who is a superhero that had taken a backseat in fighting crime is forced out of his eight years hiatus when Gotham has a new enemy. He teams up with a jewel thief to try and stop the mercenary. The color tone of the movie is neutral, and no enhancements have been made. In most 21st century films the primary colors are greatly highlighted so that they can have a high-resolution effect. This film has a grayish feel and a nighttime mood the colors are not overexaggerated. The only part in the film where color is brightened is when a happy scene comes up in the end of the film. The shadows in the film are significantly dropped so are the mid tones. The gamma in the film was also not adjusted.

When one looks at the Batman franchise, each movie has a different color scheme. Batman begins had brown and orange undertones with a dark feel. This was meant to make the viewer relate to the darkness that was in Gotham city at that time. In the Dark Knight, the color theme was a bluish brown mixture; the color choice was meant to depict hope and redemption. In the Dark Knight rises the theme is gray and shadowy.

The Lord of the Rings Trio logy is another 21st Century film that used color scheme and theory. The nature of the movie is dark, and the most prominent colors are earth colors sine the movie is that of a journey. The colors were cool and often times muted. The shots are contrasted between the sky and the ground; the movie has limited lighting. A color pallet in this film is darker and cooler. The emphasis in color are made to highlight evil for instance fire is made to be very bright. As the film begins, the viewer is introduced to a land that is colorful, a community of hobbits who are farmers living and enjoying their lives. The farms are seen to be bright; fireworks are even added to this film to show the happy state they were in. However, when trouble comes the color scheme changes and becomes grayscale. This has a psychological effect on the viewer who longs for the colorful and happy days.

Harry Potter is also a film that relied heavily on color grading; a brief plot of the movies is a young orphaned boy who survives an attack from an evil wizard. In the process of trying to kill him a protection spell placed upon him protects him, consequently transferring some of the dark wizard's powers. The movies focus on the rivalry between the two in a struggle of good versus evil.

The colors of the movies seem to be very dark particularly The Goblet of fire so as to portray the level of evil that was prevalent at that time. These are specific examples of movies that employed the use of color to enforce the themes of the movies and suggest the mood of the viewers. Before the digital age in the mid and late nineteenth century the process was known as color timing, but as a result of digital advancements, it is referred to as color grading (Kennel).

The 21st-century film developers rely on the following techniques to capture images film speed affects how the coloring of an image appears. Exposure is also used; this is the number of times that film frames are exposed. Dark colors mean underexposure, extremely bright colors mean overexposure and moderately colored films show that the exposure was just right. The use of an aperture in modern films also affects the clarity of colors thee diameter of lens opening dictates the amount of light that will be let in and the intensity of the colors. The wider the aperture, the more the light the clearer the color. Colors are also enhanced by filters as well. The Harry Potter films employ all these factors and can therefore not have a specific color theme.

The process of color grading is a tedious and time-consuming process thus limiting this amazing feature to films that have a high budget (Bonnel,1). A film in this century can have a team of up to a hundred people who are committed to coloring. Their sole purpose is to create a color theme for a movie so that it can achieve the desired look. There is also a level of expertise and training needed thus creating job opportunities.

The use of color has significantly changed in the 21st Century. There are numerous color schemes that can be used. The monochromatic color schemes which are used to heighten senses and also have a dark side as seen in Harry Potter which in some scenes there are tints of green. When intensity is sought intensity of colors is used, this is used to shine a light on a person or thing, for example, a person dressed in bright yellow.

Analogous colors are those that neighbor each other in the color wheel and are often used in films that have a natural set up (Nakano). Using this color creates a feeling of oneness and harmony. An example of the use of such colors is yellow and orange .and triadic are also used. This show just how far the film has advanced. On the other hand, use of triadic colors are those that are evenly spaced in the color wheel. In conclusion the effect of this is in films about the past since this was mostly used in the 1980s. In comparison with other centuries use of color has significantly progressed in the 21st Century and there is promise for more growth

Works Cited

Bonneel, Nicolas, et al. "Example-based video color grading." ACM Trans. Graph. 32.4 (2013): 39-1.

Crawford, Mary, and Holly Arato. "Psychology's Greatest (Movie) Hits: Highly Recommended Films for the Introductory Course." (1982).

Kennel, Glenn. Color and mastering for digital cinema. Focal Press, 2012. Learn about the history and development of cinema, from the Kinetoscope in 1891 to today's 3D revival.

SCIENCE MEDIA MUSEUM https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/very-short-history-of-cinema/

Nakano, Kazuhiro. "Application of neural networks to the color grading of apples." Computers and electronics in agriculture 18.2-3 (1997): 105-116

Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey, ed. The Oxford history of world cinema. Oxford University Press, 1997.