Digital production: using alien technology

Abstract

The love and hatred of computers has been raised to new levels in the motion picture industry. Producers and Directors now demand the impossible. Film makers are addicted to the reality that computer animation and digital effects bring to their summer block busters, thus a relatively new industry Digital Production/Effects is flourishing. Box office revenues are on the increase as more movie patrons flock to the theaters than in years past. So, what’s wrong? Movie budgets are sky rocketing with digital artists working around the clock to bring the directors vision to the big screen. The number of effects shots in feature films are increasing by the hundreds. The steady advancements in both computer hardware and software packages have allowed for some of this industry growth. The rest of the growth has come from artists shackled to their workstations for 10-l 8 hours a day, sometimes 6 to 7 days a week. This results in a burn out cycle that leaves artists tired, frustrated, and sometimes injured with repetitive stress injuries (RSI). The solution to the growing number of effects and massive budgets of feature films may not be heaping hundreds of artists on each film project, but in how the artist interacts with the computer.