Spectacle over Narrative?
Have we lost the art of small scale? FLM110 Response 3

As technology has evolved exponentially over the past decade, film techniques have adapted to be aided by these newly found technological advancements. One technological advancement that has been completely consumed by the film industry is CGI (Computer Generated Imagery). Hollywood has formed a fascination with the technique, to which I reply with “you can’t blame them”. CGI has made the impossible, possible. Dinosaurs were brought back to life in Steven Spielberg's, Jurassic Park. Reality was bent in Christopher Nolan’s, Inception. Yet with this fascination completely taking over Hollywood, have we lost the art of the small scale?

If you were to look at every big summer block buster that has come out in the past five years, you can almost be certain that there was some form of CGI in the film. But when does it become too much. Now I’m not suggesting that CGI is terrible and that it is responsible for this over saturated environment. I’m simply recognising that way Hollywood has exploited it, and in ways adapted to better suit that method. This trend is seen heavily in the superhero films. world ending events are always the main plot point of the films. these films go into overreaching lengths to go bigger and better the latter. Yet something is lost. The relatability and subtlety
Yet there are some shining examples of the dying genre being revitalised. Logan was released in 2017 and on the surface is a superhero film. On the surface. When you look more closely, you can see James Mangold (Logan director)has stripped back the giant spectacle and extravagant surrealism and has brought forth a more grounded, gritty and scaled back story. Yet this film was so widely praised. Debunking Hollywood’s formula of bigger is better.
So, do I think that these advancements in technologies have eroded the craft of film story telling. Well it depends. In the right hands, you can have movies that rely heavily on CGI such as ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ but still deliver beautifully crafted stories. Like anything I believe it comes down to the person heading the project. Don’t blame the tools, blame the person using them.
References:
Cheng, E. Garcia, A.(producer). (2017). Kong Skull Island [Motion picture]. United States of America, China, Australia, Canada: Legendary Entertainment, Warner Bros.
Image 1 http://68.media.tumblr.com/69f2768d268378bb7182e22c88fc106b/tumblr_mkm25nZyq21s6mknho1_1280.jpg

