It is no doubt that movies have played a profound part in our lives for shaping our perception of the world; they are constantly making us question the reality and our identity through the remanent of visions that they implant into our minds. Thus, multimodal texts such as films are indeed a sophisticated tool that has the utmost power to construct and transform our stories, our own lives.
Motion pictures utilise the manipulative instrument of visual effects to enhance their capability to arouse deception among the audience (Levy, 2013). They serve as a powerful, expressive tool for moviemakers to engage and immerse the public into the realms of surrealism that we as humans can only dream of. There is this separation of reality and imaginative world that is amplified through the trickery evoked from visual effects (Levy, 2013).
Taking the example of the science fiction film, “The Day After Tomorrow” released in 2004, it captures the terror and mortality in an apocalypse through severe visual effects that aid in immersing the viewers as the characters played within. Up until today, I have a very distinct memory of this movie ever since I watched it at a very young age; I was in complete fright after witnessing the untold truth about the fatality of ‘the end of the world’. I remember every abhorrent scene where civilians mourn in pain and dash to safety in panic; these scenes cannot manifest the terror of the phenomenon without the help of visual effects. The perfect integration of these effects, along with other devices such as sound effects, enhance our perception on the fictional world they’ve created.
Further, effective films enable the mass distribution of ideas and messages through the manipulative and compelling moving images they produce (Bailey, 2011). This is exemplified through the disastrous impact of an apocalypse the filmmakers for “The Day After Tomorrow” tries to advocate and educate the public on. Myself as an audience, I was petrified by the concept of an apocalypse; and like many others, I contemplate about the actuality and my role within it, whether our real world will soon end similarly and how we should act upon it.
Indeed, Bailey (2011) confirms that within the world of filmmaking, there is the existence of a “film language” where it facilitates the movement of transferred feelings, knowledge and awareness that traditional print mediums cannot offer.
Reference List:
Headline photo source: IMDB. (2004). The Day After Tomorrow (2004) Photo Gallery. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319262/mediaindex?ref_=tt_mv_close
Levy, D. (2013, May 19). A cinematic journey through visual effects [Video file]. Retrieved from http://ed.ted.com/on/jrwmwajj
Embed video source: TrailersPlaygroundHD. (Producer). June 22, 2013. The Day After Tomorrow – Official® Trailer [HD] . Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku_IseK3xTc
Bailey, B. (2011). “When I make a film, it’s out of my head”: Expressing emotion and healing through digital filmmaking in the classroom. Digital Culture & Education, 3(2), 76 97. Retrieved from http://www.digitalcultureandeducation.com/uncategorized/dce1056_bailey_2011_html/
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