How movies can look to games to deal with transitioning to digital

In upcoming documentary Side By Side, Keanu Reeves sits down with some of the most important directors working now to discuss technology’s effect on the film industry’s evolution.  Discussing the death of film, the transition into digital, the 3D craze and the proliferation of digital filmmaking, Cinemablend has a trailer that features some of the best known names working now waxing hopeful and despondent. From Christopher Nolan opposing the seemingly inevitable to James Cameron anxious to move forward, the documentary looks like it will be an in-depth discussion with the people to whom the medium truly matters most.

As George Lucas says in the trailer, “We are going through a very significant and large transition in cinema and the digital process democratizes the whole thing.” Through technology’s improvements and introductions of new models like digital distribution and the app store, modern game development has been made accessible to essentially anyone willing to try it. The indie space’s risk-free environment has resulted in some of the most creative ideas in recent years; some of them have even been featured in larger games (Portal came out of a Digipen game and the gels in Portal 2 came about the same way).

Maybe the internet’s unique films could lead to refreshing major films but at the moment I’m on Christopher Nolan’s side. I appreciate the fact that I could make a movie with my friends, but it’s not something I would want to see in a theatre. But just as a game like Minecraft wasn’t possible a few years ago, the same might be the case for the next movie that becomes my all-time favorite.

– Adnan Agha

[via Cinemablend]