The 21st Century has been an amazing time for cinema. It's been revolutionary. We are living in a new age of cinema - the technological age. We now have cinematic marvels like 'Gravity', 'Avatar', 'Star Trek' and 'Star Trek: Into Darkness'. These films are all beautiful and filled with mind blowing images and special effects. But in this new age of cinema, have we lost something? Have we lost the mystique of filmmaking, the mystery? The reason I ask is with every new technological film and, at this point, new film in general, we have updates on websites, numerous trailers, still photos and behind the scenes featurettes. All of this is during the filmmaking process. I think the age of technology has taken the mystery out of filmmaking and out of viewing films as a whole.
Imagine this: It is 1981 and Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have teamed up to make a film. The film is titled 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'. Now, imagine all the speculation, videos, trailers, articles, and set photos that would be released if 'Raiders' had come out in 2014... all the website casting speculation and plot details, etc. The magic that Indiana Jones has and the magic of that trilogy would undoubtedly be greatly diminished. Why? Because we would have numerous trailers spoiling great scenes. There is a magic to not knowing what would have been, and that is gone.
Before the internet, it was much harder to spoil a film. You would have to hear plot details from a crew member or read it in a published magazine. There were no blogs. There was no Twitter, Facebook or YouTube for people to just talk or write whatever they pleased. It was a more mysterious time in cinema. It was also less "in your face" with trailers and promos.
Before 1990, films really only had one trailer. One. That was it. Now we have about two trailers and one teaser. That's the average. Now imagine this: imagine seeing the film 'The Wolf Of Wall Street' or 'Gravity' with no trailers. Nothing. A short synopsis and that's all you get. Now imagine leaving the theater having never seen a trailer, you only saw the film. I bet people would have a very, very different reaction. Maybe a positive reaction, maybe a negative reaction, but you would have gone into the film with no pre-conceived notions of what to expect. You would have no expectations other than the talent involved and the synopsis you read. Wouldn't that make for an amazing experience? I sure think it would.
I don't think anyone can honestly say the internet has made the moviegoing experience better. You would like or dislike 'Gravity' if you had seen the trailers or not, and I tend to think you would have liked it more, had you not. Personally, I feel we as moviegoers are spoiled. We are like addicts. We see one trailer and we need to see the next one. Everyone and their mother was awaiting the 'Interstellar' teaser with baited breath, myself included. But, I wish I wasn't. I wish I saw the looks on people's faces when I first saw the movie. I wish I heard Hans Zimmer's music for the first time, the first time I saw the film. We are spoiled. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it.
Don't get me wrong, I think technology has done a lot for film; absolutely. But with all new things, old things are sacrificed. For example, many filmmakers don't shoot on film anymore because digital is cheaper. Think about that for a second... many FILMmakers don't shoot on FILM anymore. So as we go out with the old and in with the new, I ask this... is what we are sacrificing worth what we are getting in return?
- George McCann
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