Canging Movie Experience

Because of all that new technology the movie going experience is changing today. I say that with a caveat because I don't know a whole lot about films made today. You see, I rarely ever go to see films anymore. The reason, it's not the technology, it's the vapid story lines that have made films dull for me. I still believe a good film is defined by the content of the script, not the special effect and other visual trickery.  There may not be a law that says this but I believe that as the special effect and visual technology improve in film, the quality of the story and writing falls inversely.

Anyway, I read more and more that watching film means seeing it with virtual reality, augmented reality and other immersive technologies. That's a mouthful! I assume we already get the  basic idea about what is virtual reality. Anyone with a cell phone knows that one can even experience it with a telephone.  But hat is this augmented reality stuff? Augmented reality blurs the line between what's real and what's computer generated by enhancing what we see, hear, feel and smell. They essential tick our small brains into believing what we see is real.

When using immersive technology a person can feel he or she is not in the real environment, but rather feels as he or she is present in an immersive environment (virtual environment). The movie maker using things like theater temperature, seat movement, manipulation of the viewer's sense of touch and other stimulation that make the movie goer forget he or she is eating stale, over priced popcorn and sitting in a dreary theater.

This sounds dreadful to a Luditte like me. I prefer a film maker not attempt to manipulate my mind. Better to tell me the story conventionally and allow my small brain to interpret the raw data myself. I wonder if the technology  is doing more work than is the brain. Do humans need to have their thoughts controlled when engaging in such a simple task as watching a film? Does being wowed by technology satisfy the higher levels of our brains? Do we not get the greatest intellectual stimulation from the simplest act of thinking for ourselves and "figuring something out ourselves"?

You tech fans can have all that video enhancement. I'll take an old black and white movie that makes me think for myself.