Fireproof (2008)

A Brief History of Film

Part Fourteen: Digital Deakins, Creative Christians, and Marvelous Marvel

by Fr. John Wykes, OMV

I was at a friend’s gathering during the mid-2010s.  One of his nephews, about 13 or so, knowing I was a filmmaker and instructor, came up to me and started talking about movies. 

“Have you heard of Roger Deakins?” he asked.  I was amazed.  Of course, I recognized the name of the most famous living cinematographer.  But how did this kid know about him?

The boy continued his lecture – taking about Deakins’ work on Skyfall (2012), how revolutionary it was, and even the make and model of the camera he used.  I couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

The conversation taught me that something incredible was happening – cinema was truly becoming democratized.  Even a 13-year-old boy knew what was going on – that cinema had changed forever.

To explain why, we need to look at the technology involved.

When we think of videotape or video cards, we think of old home movies shot on VHS, an afternoon football game on TV, or a report on our local TV news.  When we think of motion picture film (much more expensive than video), we think of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Gandhi, and Goldfinger.  But what if video technology (an electronic medium) could be adapted enough to match the quality and feel of film technology (a photochemical medium)? 

In the 2010s, digital video finally started to catch up to the far superior resolution and subtlety of motion picture film.  The higher resolution for HD and 4K video meant it became more difficult and even impossible for the human eye to tell the difference between film and video.   The aspect ratio or overall shape of the film was adjusted (made more “rectangular”).  Finally, the frame rate was changed from 30 fps (frames per second) to 24 fps, matching the frame rate of motion picture film.  “Digital cinema” was born.

The trumpet blast announcing the new era came in 2012.  Digital films had been released in theaters before, but not like this.  An exciting James Bond film, the third for actor Daniel Craig, Skyfall was shot entirely using a digital cinema camera called the Arri Alexa.  It was the most beautiful James Bond film ever made – and the very first shot digitally.  Yes, everyone knew that digital cinema was technically possible – but not everyone knew that cinematic beauty could be part of the technology.  The gorgeous images spoke for themselves.  When Skyfall’s cinematography was nominated for an Oscar, Roger Deakins became a household name.  More importantly, independent filmmakers around the world rejoiced.  Finally, at long last, it was possible for those working with a lower budget to produce professional quality movies.

Hollywood did its best to protect its property and its technology.  But the cat was already well out of the bag and now the major studios would have to contend with competition coming from all corners of the globe.

Working with little or no money, independent filmmakers and videographers began to populate YouTube with millions of videos and films.  Some, called “YouTubers,” used the platform as a way to reach thousands or even millions with video blogs or tutorials.  Others uploaded their digital films, excited by a much greater audience than offered by the average independent film festival.

Emboldened by the meteoric success of The Passion of the Christ (2004), various Christian groups and moviemakers harnessed the new technology to make religious films for an ever-growing Christian audience.

Sherwood Baptist Church in Georgia started up its own motion picture studio.  Its first film, Flywheel (2003), was made with $20,000 worth of donations and ended up making $37,000.  Its second film, Facing the Giants (2006) was made with $100,000 and found a much wider audience, bringing in an impressive $10 million.  Even the church itself was surprised by the success of its third film, Fireproof (2008). Made for only $500,000 and starring Kirk Cameron and Erin Bethea, Fireproof was lambasted by secular critics but praised by audiences who could relate to the marital difficulties shown on screen.  It ended up making an astounding $33.5 million. Courageous (2011), the last film made by Sherwood Baptist, raked in an impressive $35.7 million.

Two Mormons founded Angel Studios in the mid-2010s as “VidAngel,” an attempt to use video technology to “clean up” major studio releases that were being streamed.  Families could skip over objectionable scenes and foul language.  Major studios sued VidAngel and a settlement was reached.  Angel Studios was set up and proceeded to turn out a great number of live action and animated films during the 2020s.

Meanwhile, Stan Lee, who had brought Marvel Comics and its colorful cast of superheroes to pop culture prominence, was now getting older and wanted to expand to television and film.  The first efforts were disappointing.  A number of property owners and lawyers were involved in the process before Marvel Studios finally started making movies.  Iron Man (2008) starred Robert Downey, Jr. in the title role and was a big hit at the box office.  This was followed by two sequels, along with other films featuring other well-known superheroes, such as Thor, Captain America, the Incredible Hulk, and Spider-Man.  An astonishing thirty-seven films were made, each interconnected in the ever-expanding story-telling empire known as the “Marvel Cinematic Universe.”  It is the highest-grossing movie franchise of all time and has made in excess of $32 billion.  Currently, the Marvel Universe encompasses both films and multiple television series.

The once-antiquated technology known as 3-D made a splashy comeback when James Cameron’s Avatar (2009) became the most profitable film ever made.  Suddenly, 3-D was seen to be an urgent necessity.  Even Martin Scorsese made his Hugo (2011) in 3-D (arguably the finest and most artistically nuanced use of 3-D this author has ever seen). 

Just as with AI in the 2020s, so much money was invested in 3-D in the 2010s that it was touted as the must-have technology of the day.  3-D Blu-rays were sold and many 3-D Blu-ray players as well.  Independent filmmakers such as myself (Fr. John Wykes, OMV) were constantly pushed to buy the latest 3-D prosumer camera and the newest 3-D editing software (I never did, by the way).  There was a sense that the new technology was unavoidable and that anyone foolish enough to resist the trend would be left behind in the digital food chain.

Then it all came to an end.  Most 3-D films started to underperform at the box office.  The huge cost of production, along with the price tag of equipping theaters with 3-D technology and millions of 3-D glasses, meant that the new technology was simply not profitable enough to continue.  To paraphrase Charles Dickens, within a couple of years, 3-D was dead – “dead as a doornail.”

One technology that survived the test of time was Blu-ray.  The disc, capable of holding and playing back pristine high-definition content, was initially seen as a format with no future, especially when considering streaming technology.  However, as consumers grew wearing of forking over money every time they wanted to see a movie on a platform to which they had already subscribed anyway, they turned to Blu-ray as a cost-effective alternative – especially for those classic or favorite movies they wished to see multiple times.  The format that was predicted to be dead by 2012 was still doing well during the late 2020s.

Newer directors entered the scene during the 2010s.  Most prominent among them was French Canadian Denis Villeneuve (Den-EE Veal-NEHVE).  Despite his name being mispronounced a hundred different ways by American commentators, Villeneuve nevertheless impressed audiences with his extraordinary eye for lighting, design, and composition.  No other director of the early 21st Century equaled Villeneuve’s visual mastery of the film medium (though other details such as character portrayal and plot structure can be endlessly debated).  Both Sicario (2015) and Arrival (2016) were praised for their striking visuals.  These were followed by Blade Runner 2049 (2017) (which finally got cinematographer Roger Deakins his long-deserved Academy Award) as well as the spectacular, though hotly debated, Dune Part One (2021) and Dune Part Two (2024).

American filmmaker J.C. Chandor took a different approach with relatively few but highly acclaimed films.  Margin Call (2011) about an investment firm’s harried 24 hours during the housing crisis of 2008, became a cult classic among those who appreciated dialog-heavy films with little or no music.  All Is Lost (2013) went in the opposite direction, starring Robert Redford as a man lost at sea (Redford was the only cast member and very few words were spoken).  And Oscar Isaac portrayed a fuel supplier threatened by corrupt and violent competition in A Most Violent Year (2014).

After finishing his prequels, Star Wars filmmaker George Lucas had decided that enough was enough.  Initially desiring to make a nine-part epic, he stopped with six episodes for two reasons.  One, the story as it stood (Episode I-VI) was a complete and satisfying story – to add three more episodes would be awkward and nonsensical.  On top of that, Lucas didn’t want to be making Star Wars films into his 70s and 80s (it took three years to make one of these gargantuan films, so a new trilogy would take another ten years of Lucas’ life).

Though selling one’s creative property another entity can be risky (Gene Roddenberry had regretted selling his Star Trek rights), Lucas decided to sell Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012.  With the sale, Disney acquired Star Wars.  It was then that the creative Mickey Mouse empire made a startling announcement – yes, there WOULD be an Episode VII, followed by Episodes VIII and IX.  It didn’t matter if Episode VI seemed like a satisfying and complete end to the saga.  There was money to be made – and Disney was bound and determined to make as much as possible – no matter how little sense it made on screen.

Episode VII was released in 2015, and helming the project was none other than J.J. Abrams, who had become famous for creating a rather wild, action-filled movie version of the original Star Trek TV series back in 2009.  So he worked on the first new Star Wars, and though the results were promising, the dismal Episode VIII (2017), which received horrible reviews, took an entirely different direction, mostly due to the writing of director Rian Johnson.  Fans were especially angered by what they perceived as mistreatment of the heroic Luke Skywalker character, which had Mark Hamill return as a crabby and aging Jedi who lived in seclusion and tossed aside a light saber as one would toss away an empty soda can.  Episode IX (2019) was helmed by Abrams once again and sought to salvage the strange, twisting plot lines created by the previous film.  It made a great deal of money but entirely disenchanted fans of the original Lucas trilogies.

As the 2020s began and as Covid locked down cities worldwide, there was hope that new technology and new content delivery venues would revitalize the world of cinema.  Our Brief History of Film will conclude with the next article.

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