[Weekly Update] May 23, 2021

Covid restrictions are being loser here in Montreal, and vaccine roll outs are going smoothly. Hopefully things are looking up where you are!

ABOUT THE CHANNEL

• After hosting a few polls on our YouTube community page, our video release strategy has been adjusted accordingly. You probably won't notice a change, but in short, going forward, we'll focus more on recently released hit films around the world.
• We are also planning on a series of videos. In each video, we highlight one film industry from around the world. It'll be similar to our Thai horror video, but with one twist: The included films are voted on by the viewer!
• More changes may be made in the future, but for now, this is what we have in mind. Let us know if you have any suggestions!
• New video is currently being edited. It should be up by Thursday!

ABOUT MEDIA

• Let's talk about the future of cinema.
• In school, we talked about the impact of CGI. One of the principal debate we have is if on screen actors will still be needed.
• Of course, with the MCU, modern blockbusters are pretty much animations with occasional live action scenes. And with Star Wars, old actors are young again, dead actors are alive again.
• Tangent: Technology is finally ready for us to finish Game of Death. Come on, Hollywood.
• While there is almost no debate that the importance of actor will diminished in the future, my take on this is that they will never truly go away.
• There is this thing called "aura" in art. The simplest example I can think of is this: Are you willing to sleep on Hitler's bed. A lot of you won't, even though it really is just a bed. But Hitler has this bad aura, that any objects associated with him are also automatically bad to us.
• Similarly, actors have this positive aura that makes a film special. The less involve the actors are, the less aura this film has. It's the reason why animated films still hire famous actors to provide their voice. The aura of a star is powerful.
• This is why I don't think actors and stars will truly go away. Not until AI generated actors can completely fool us on and off screen.
• Speaking of AI and robots... this is a fun one. What if in the near future, when sufficient advancement in robotics, we have a revival in stop-motion animation? Except, it's not stop-motion. The puppets are controlled by robots, and are moving in real time?
• Knowing how vinyls are selling better than ever, or how we love handcrafted stuff. In an ideal world where disposable income is plentiful, it's not unreasonable to assume audience would prefer movies shot in real life rather then computer generated, even if the final result is indistinguishable.
• We already have this going with the Mission Impossible series, as well as nearly all the Nolan films. Their VFX and stunts are almost always real, enchanted with CGI. And they are almost always a box office smash hit. If this continues to stand true...
• Therefore, robot waifu.

Annnnnd I don't know what I'm saying any more. But that's some of the interesting thoughts I have about the future of cinema. What do you think the future holds?

In any case, I'll see you in a few days, with a new video!