In 1999, Lucas Films released the first prequel film to the Star Wars franchise, “The Phantom Menace.” This film highlights the transition from analogue to digital cinema. The film was among the first major films to make use of digital technology in production and distribution. It used digital effects, including CGI of characters such as Jar Jar Binks. It used digital cameras for shooting, recording, and manipulating images in post-production. Digital and non-linear editing was used.

Manovich (2001, pp. 248-249) argues that it’s possible to make 3D-animated scenes on computers using CGI. Live-action footage loses its link to reality once it is digitised and reduces to the same level of abstraction as hand-generated graphics. Digital filmmakers use ‘elastic reality’, which maintains the photography process’s visual accuracy while achieving a fluidity previously only attainable in animation. Computers blur boundaries between editing and special effects.

“We can define digital film in this way: digital film = live action material + painting + image processing + compositing + 2-D computer animation + 3-D computer animation” (Manovich, 2001, p. 249). The transition to digital technology in filmmaking signified a shift away from traditional techniques towards digital. An example of this film’s digital techniques is the duel between Darth Maul, Qui-Gon, and Obi-Wan.

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CGI was used to produce Darth Maul’s iconic double-bladed lightsaber. This gave the duel a distinctive visual element, using CGI to show the digital effects and make the combat more attractive. The setting for this scene is a generator complex featuring pathways and bottomless pits. The set was expanded through digital effects, giving depth. There is choreography where Darth Maul is doing backflips. The audio soundtrack creates suspense. Then there’s the battle of Naboo, where battle droids are fighting the Gungans. This scene is completely CGI-generated.

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Naboo’s fields and hills were digitally generated. This made it possible to portray a huge landscape that would blend in with live-action video. Spacecraft are involved in combat, including Trade Federation ships and Naboo starfighters. The laser blasts and explosions that simulate the ground and space battles were digital effects. Digital replication techniques were used with the armies of Gungans and Droids.

In contrast, David Rodowick (2007, p. 10) argues that digital takes away from reality and realism. He prefers cinema that contains exactly what the camera records. Digital arts lack substance and cannot be identified as objects; no medium-specific ontology can anchor them. Expressions are reducible to the same computational notation; the digital arts render expressions identical.

I disagree with this. The mise-en-scene is designed to elicit a psychological response from the audience; the medium can be controlled. The narratives are expressed the same. The difference between then and now is how the narrative is captured with digital technology.

By James Farrell

References

Manovich, L. (2001) The Language of New Media, ProQuest Ebook Central. Cambridge: MIT Press. Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/goldsmiths/detail.action?docID=6246549 (Accessed: 27 November 2023).

Rodowick, D.N. (2007) The Virtual Life of Film, The Virtual Life of Film. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Available at: https://www-fulcrum-org.gold.idm.oclc.org/epubs/bg257h53j?locale=en#page=1 (Accessed: 27 November 2023).