The Future of Cinema is Video Games, Just Not the Way You Think
Up close with a new technology at the National Association of Broadcasters Convention
“In the next decade, the future of cinema will incorporate video game technology,” said Paul Graff, visual effects supervisor of Boardwalk Empire, Stranger Things and The Wolf of Wall Street. Graff said this to my 2011 cohort at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Faculty Seminar. Graff had just shown us the VFX he used in season 1 of Boardwalk Empire and had explained the advances in computer graphic design. His hybrid computer effects incorporated much of what we’d see in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: huge green screens, motion tracking, camera mapping, and a crew of talented CG artists. Graff said that it was only a matter of time before video game engines worked with CG teams, directors, and cinematographers.
A decade later, at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Convention, the convention’s product of focus was the technology used in The Mandalorian Disney+ series, Rogue One, and The Batman: virtual sets combined with game engines to create responsive, immersive worlds for the viewer.
For almost a century, computers had very little do with with filmmaking. From the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz to the the massive…
