Image via Complex Original
From silent flicks to virtual reality features, filmmaking has come a long way since its advent in the 1890s. Thanks to technological advancement, progressive ways of thinking, and public demand, we’ve seen films evolve from black-and-white shorts, like Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon, to vivid thrills, like video-game-meets-movie Hardcore Henry. With 3D turning into 4D experiences and VR on the come-up, only time will tell how audiences will watch movies in the coming years. For now, however, let’s appreciate the innovations that have left a mark, the ones that changed the game and have allowed us to experience cinema in new, unforgettable ways.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Directed by: Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez
What: Novel use of “found footage”
The Blair Witch Project wasn’t the first movie to use “found footage” as a filmmaking technique (you can thank 1980’s Cannibal Holocaust for that), but it did put the method on the map. Thanks to the low-budget Sundance hit’s eventual mainstream success, netting about $240 million at the box office, Blair Witch popularized the subgenre in which footage is presented as if it were a discovered recording. Other films, like Paranormal Activity and Cloverfield, soon followed, leveraging supposed amateur footage to create suspense in the realm between fact and fiction.
Hardcore Henry (2016)
Directed by: Ilya Naishuller
What: Groundbreaking POV
Forget virtual reality—you don’t need cumbersome goggles to become fully immersed in the world of this breathtaking action film. Shot in first-person, the audience becomes Henry, a man who teeters on the brink of death, only to come back with no memory of his past on a quest to save his kidnapped wife. From your seat, you see everything from Henry’s POV—the gun fights, the car chases, the blood and guts, and the swinging from helicopters. No, this isn’t for the faint-hearted; rather, it’s for the thrill-seeking moviegoer in search of a new, unforgettable cinematic experience.
Memento (2000)
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
What: Radical story structure
It’s hard to forget Memento. The psychological thriller about a man (Guy Pearce) with memory loss trying to track down his wife’s killer is as mind warping as its nonlinear narrative structure. Seen in two sequences, the story is at once told chronologically in black and white, and in reverse order (mirroring the protagonist’s anterograde amnesia), coming together for a complete recounting of the story by the film’s end. Thanks to its peculiar, yet highly compelling, framing device, the now-classic film racked up both box-office success and several Oscar nominations, including Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing.
Cabin in the Woods (2012)
Directed by: Drew Goddard
What: Genre-subverting storytelling
As critics and casual viewers alike will tell you, Cabin in the Woods is the horror movie for audiences who couldn’t care less about horror movies. The critically lauded film is a self-aware, genre-bending (and genre-switching) achievement in scary cinema. As exemplified by the film’s deliberate onslaught of clichés—the sexless final girl; killed-at-first-sight minority character, etc.—it trusts the audience’s intelligence and offers clever twists on tired tropes. Of course, should we have expected anything less from a movie co-written by Joss Whedon?
300 (2007)
Directed by: Zack Snyder
What: “The Crush”
While the film—a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae—received mixed reviews, critics could agree the visuals of the Gerard Butler action-thriller were like nothing they’d seen before. To achieve its bombastic, surreal look, visual effects supervisor Chris Watts and production designer Jim Bissell used a new technique called “The Crush,” essentially an innovative method to pull off extreme contrasts. Desaturation and tints were used to set certain emotional tones, while Maya, RealFlow, and RenderMan were all combined to animate the comic-book-like blood splashing.
Toy Story (1995)
Directed by: John Lasseter
What: First computer-animated feature-length film
Toy Story, a rich, multidimensional tale of anthropomorphic toys in suburbia, made its mark as the first feature-length, computer-animated movie to hit theaters. The film that made Pixar the powerhouse it is today—Toy Story took home a Special Achievement Academy Award for the studio and spawned two successful and beloved sequels.
Rashomon (1950)
Directed by: Akira Kurosawa
What: Nonlinear storytelling featuring multiple points of view
Akira Kurosawa is a genius—a fact that’s apparent in his classic Rashomon. The mysterious tale of a murdered samurai is explored through multiple points of view, each of which unravels a different version of the “truth.” This original plot device plays with the motifs of memory, self-deception, and self-interest. The result, a unique feat of nonlinear storytelling, has influenced numerous films and television shows over the past 50+ years and has also helped cement Japan’s place in film history.
The Matrix (1999)
Directed by: The Wachowskis
What: “Bullet time”
“Bullet time.” That’s precisely what makes The Matrix stand out. Introduced to mass audiences in the thriller about a computer hacker named Neo (Keanu Reeves) who learns the truth about his simulated reality, the visual effect involves slowing down the action within a scene while the camera and/or character move in normal speed. Hence, the famous moment in which Neo’s heightened perception allows him to control time and space, and thus dodge the bullets and bad guys hurtling his way. According to visual effects designer John Gaeta, the move was inspired by the view-morphing music videos of Michel Gondry and artistic achievements of Akira director Otomo Katsuhiro.
Star Wars (1977)
Directed by: George Lucas
What: New technology
Star Wars opened up the universe to movie-going earthlings. But only after George Lucas created the tools to do so. Dykstraflex, for example, a new computer-controlled camera apparatus, allowed Lucas to remember and repeat the same camera movements so he could precisely recreate space-battle scenes. Star Wars was also the first to show us 3D wireframe animation on the screen. And, perhaps most profoundly, it ushered in refined blue-screen technology that upgraded the original version with portable transmission screens and direct-current fluorescent lights. That is all to say, Lucas’ team tinkered with the prototype to create the crisp imagery that still blows audiences away.
Jaws (1975)
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
What: Innovative marketing and distribution strategy
Without Jaws, there may not be a summer blockbuster season. While Spielberg is lauded for his “less is more” approach to unveiling the famous underwater monster, forcing the audience to manufacture their horror by withholding the actual reveal, it’s the movie’s marketing that truly changed the game. Jaws was one of the first to use the wide-release distribution techniques employed today, which involve heavy television advertising and tie-in merchandise, such as a new paperback version of the source novel. Its filmmaker, writer, and producers also embarked on an extensive promotional tour that included radio and TV spots as the film opened at hundreds of theaters nationwide throughout the summer, a period purposefully selected to capitalize on both the film’s subject matter and America’s downtime.