ALWAYS WATCHING

Eye Opening Movies Involving Technology

Technology is constantly evolving and influencing various aspects of everyday life, from the smartphones picked up and used everyday to the work done on laptops instead of paper. Movies are a common product of technology that many people enjoy daily. Generally, when the making of movies is brought up in conversation, cameras out of sight and microphones overhead are what people imagine. For many years, this has been the reality and has intrigued many who aspire to become filmmakers. While this still holds true, a new method of filming movies has emerged from the realities of today’s technology. When a phone snaps a picture, a microphone captures a sound, or a laptop is turned on, the real world lives of users are left open to the widespread exploitation of technology. Instead of filming with traditional cameras that give viewers a third person point of view, filmmakers have started filming with smartphones, webcams, and other personal devices that give the viewer a relatable first person point of view. This new filming method, coined by Russian director and producer Timur Bekmambetov as ‘Screenlife,’ has become widely relevant to technology in everyday life because of its exclusive use of everyday technology such as smartphones, personal cameras, webcams and more. Bekmambetov coined the term for his 2014 film “Unfriended”, which was filmed via a computer screen as a Zoom call takes place. The 2018 screenlife film “Searching” showcases this method of filming in its use of GoPros, drones, mini DV cameras, webcams and iPhones. Just this year, “Missing”, another screenlife film, was filmed entirely on computers, cellphones, smartwatches, security cameras and more. While these movies present a new way for filmmakers to create relevant storylines, the relevancy of the method itself is a harsh realization of how technology is nearly everywhere on a daily basis and how that same technology could be gathering information without users ever knowing. Story by Avery Grunder.