Through the years technology has improved and changed the way we see all aspects of life, including film. The evolution of cinema has allowed us to see movies from a different perspective, until reaching what is known today as digital cinema, which is also linked to the desire to simulate reality extremely, becoming almost hyperrealism.

Shane Denson and Julia Leyda describe digital media as something that is allowing cinema to tell stories differently. However, they argue that every film belongs to the same genre because all of them tell a story (Denson, Leyda, 2016).

In the digital age, live-action films have appeared. Now it is possible to generate images without the need to film them, this is what happens with 3D animation computers. In this way, a new type of realism is brought to life, which is described in Post-Cinema: Theorising 21st Century Film, as something that pretends to be the same as reality, but in the end, is not (Denson, Leyda, 2016).

Consequently, the authors of Post-Cinema: Theorising 21st Century Film define digital cinema as: “A particular case of animation that uses live-action footage as one of its many elements” (Denson, Leyda, 2016).

On the other hand, Yong Liu in the paper From ‘Dimensional Effects’1 to Stereoscopic Hyperrealism: The Transformation of Digital 3D Cinematic Aesthetics, mentions some situations that people have never experienced but at the same time feel real and credible, that is realism. Nevertheless, hyperrealism in films combines special effects, deep focus, long takes and 3D effects (Liu, 2016).

At the same time, it is clear that technology can create a complete cinematic illusion of things that look too real to be realistic and develop immersive effects in a new era of post-continuity (Liu, 2016).

In the same way, the term hyperrealism appears. In the text Hyperrealism in Film- and Anthropology-making: A Comparison between Cinematic and Ethnographic Methods, the author explains that digital images are used by hyperrealism to create a fake sense of reality, some elements can make the illusion of a reality that does not exist (Palekaite).

In the cinema we are used to today, it is difficult to choose a single example of hyperrealism. Marvel movies build a whole fantastic universe adapted to what we know as reality, but which doesn’t exist, thanks to the use of special effects. The same happens with live-action movies, it is very common to see behind the scenes of these films where it is evident that 90% of the scenes are made by a computer.

To conclude, it is important to mention that technology will continue to advance in its attempt to imitate reality with greater precision and the best example is found in virtual and augmented reality. It is not a secret that we live in a hyperreal world and that cinema is proof of this.

By: Tianna Montes Murillo

Student ID: 33700373

References:

Denson, S., & Leyda, J. (2016). Post-cinema : theorizing 21st-century film. REFRAME Books.

Liu, Y. (2016). From ‘Dimensional Effects’1 to Stereoscopic Hyperrealism: The Transformation of Digital 3D Cinematic Aesthetics [Article From ‘Dimensional Effects’1 to Stereoscopic Hyperrealism: The Transformation of Digital 3D Cinematic Aesthetics]. https://fass.ubd.edu.bn/staff/docs/YL/yong-liu-2016.pdf

Palekaite, G. (n.d.). Hyperrealism in Film- and Anthropology-making: A Comparison between Cinematic and Ethnographic Methods. Dept. of Cultural and Social Anthropology, University of Vienna. file:///C:/Users/hp/Downloads/Hyperrealism_in_Film_and_Anthropology_ma.pdf