Conclusion
To paraphrase 'Jurassic Park'- Like life, cinema will find a way. I hope I am wrong on some counts in my predictions. But within a few months of each other, I listened to two influential men and their desires for the future. The first was John Ridding, The CEO of the Financial Times. Someone in the audience asked him what he thought was going to happen to printed press, what with the rise of digital. Mr. Ridding referred to the radio- just because TV initially eclipsed it, both exist side-by-side, dependent on each other for nurturing talent and advertising. So, he concluded based on sales figures of his newspaper, Digital would indeed continue to rise in prominence, but the printed press would not be wiped out completely- companies are pushing to digitise everything, but they are missing out an entire generation who dont want everything to be digital. And a few weeks ago, listening to Christopher Nolan, my favourite filmmaker and a huge influence on me as a filmmaker, a champion of celluloid, a little CGI as possible, IMAX and 2D, was asked about the decline of celluloid, and though he waxes lyrical, to my knowledge hed never made a distinct declaration of his thoughts of digital. And he said just wants a choice. Thats all we need- a choice between film and digital. Not everything has to change instantly and for double the cost, just because we can see the next big step in the evolution of human civilization. And this sums up my opinion for the future of cinema. It may have seemed I am some sour-faced purist who only wants black & white arthouse films. I love fun movies. My life would not be the same without 'Jurassic Park', or 'Raiders of The Lost Ark', or 'Back to The Future'. I love films that are so bad theyre good. Above all else, cinema is entertainment just as much as it is art. It annoys me to see filmmakers I admire like Terry Gilliam and David Cronenberg trash-talking modern films the way they do- completely tearing apart films like The Avengers which was never meant as more than great entertainment. One point they do make is true- so many films are influenced by video games (many literally, like Edgar Wrights 'Scott Pilgrim VS The World'). Ive never been bothered by them too much, but it seems less major filmmakers now emerging care about plot or character, but rather about visuals. With everything being acted in front of green screens and everything being fixed with bloated budgets (Im looking at you, 'Pirates', 'Avatar', 'Spider-Man 3', etc.), wheres the challenge any more? Whos really trying? We need more Sam Raimis, more Guillermo Del Toros, more Steven Spielbergs, more Ridley Scotts, more Stan Winstons, who understand how to balance the wonder of computer graphics and how they have advanced cinema, and the stunning believability of practical stunts, sets and prosthetics. Things are going to change, and I will normally be the first to support change despite what I may have suggested earlier. But I think we need to utilise the internet and the new ways we can distribute films and market them to create a new generation of movie brats. For me, the films coming out of America in the 70s were among the best Ive ever seen. I want powerful new voices to emerge- men and women, gay and straight, black and white, all races and creeds- and be equally heard. At heart I am an optimistic person, and the future will be bright. We just need to make ourselves be heard. Because I know I cant be the only person thinking this way about cinemas.