Technology of Mainstream Cinema

     It's amazing to think how far cinema has come in the field of technological advances. The Great train Robbery, a film from 1903, was an innovative film in the usage of "special effects" such as having a train come right into frame, shooting on location and having multiple cuts of the camera. Audiences weere frightened when they first saw this film. Little did they know what was in store for later generations.
     All movies were silent until 1927 when another pioneering film came out called The Jazz Singer. Al Jolson uttered the now famous and ironic first ever lines of dialogue "wait a minute, wait a minute. You aint heard nothin' yet". As learned in American History, us Avon Lake kids all know that this was the first "talkie". For the likes of Buster Keaton, The Marx Brothers and Charlie Chaplin, the silent, vaudeville era was over.
     The american audiences really hadn't seen nothing yet, until 1939 when Gone With the wind and The wizard of Oz came out. Both film plots called for actual technicolor, unheard of at the time. both films utilized the big budgets they had to make that happen and it paid off in the end. both were among the most successful films of 1939 and have each stood the test of time as worthy pieces in the top ten all time films.
     however, color didnt become a mainstream effect on television let alone film until about 1966. That was when true technological marvels became possible. Space Odyssey: 2001 contained computer technology, among the first films ever to use Computer Generated Imagery, now taken for granted. Special effects were really starting to become large parts of the plot. Star Wars, released in 1977, more than proved that notion.
     The special effects in Star Wars mesmerized the public to no end when first released. In fact, it became the highest grossing film of all time, back when that was an actual accomplishment. Not like today where every five months a new billion dollar film is released. The film was released theatrically four more times in 1978, 1979, 1981, and 1982 and with some controversial added/altered scenes in 1997.
     Budgets have grown and grown and the look of big budget films have been more and more innovative, but nothing compared to Avatar, the 3D experience that made you feel like you were actually in the fantasy world. 3D films had been released before, but all were considered cheesy and predictable. Avatar blew that so far out of the water, it touched Saturn. At a cost of 237 million dollars with dazzling special effects, but I must admit a cheesy plot, it became the highest grossing film of ALL TIME at $2,782,275,172 in sold tickets.
      The 13 dollar price of tickets at 3D theatres definitely helped that new record. Who cares, though? It set a new Hollywood standard while I was a teenager! I never imagined being alive and well to see an innovation of Avatar's calibur special effects wise. Personally, movies aren't told as well as they were in the 70's 80's 90's and even the early 2000's, but at least the technology can make your eyes pop out of their sockets like never before, and for that, I tip my Yamaka to the film industry.