The world of film has always been an influential space for artists and documentarians to shape perception about the world outside of the screen. From fiction films to a real account of society around us, using the medium of motion pictures has been so important in understanding social issues, economic problems, racial inequality, and other real concerns that are going on in our lives. Film shines a light on the best and brightest parts of life and helps shed light on the problems that we often miss. In short, film and the filmmakers behind the lens are essential storytellers of the modern age.
It’s hard to imagine a world without filmmakers when you understand how influential their work can be. Even from an entertainment standpoint, the film medium has overtaken traditional forms like books and poetry, but are still useful. How can filmmakers continue to shape the world if they are already doing so much? The answer is in the future, and here’s how future filmmakers are going to shape the world.
Opinion Makers
A strong world view revolves around the information you understand and take in. Opinions aren’t formed randomly, and they have to come from some inspiration for critical thought. Films have been doing this for decades and decades. Watching a famous actor or actress, a director, or seeing political events take place on screen helps formulate some point of view for you to understand the world around you. This is why future filmmakers are going to continue to shape the world. As they grow up in a world around them that’s growing, changing, and adapting to society, they will reflect this in their films and act as opinion makers and facilitators.
Funding and Support
One of the biggest issues for young upstarts in the film industry or freelancing as filmmakers is that funding and support can often be hard to come by. Funding and support are vital in allowing future filmmakers to achieve their voice or realize their vision. Luckily, there are a lot of groups dedicated to helping out filmmakers who are young, need access to platforms, or possess a vision that meets the group or foundation’s needs. With the Pomegranate Foundation, films can be used to express awareness of social inequality and racial conflicts that filmmakers and supporters can use to help each other mutually. With the support of the members of these foundations, especially those in positions of power, they have immense influence that the foundations or groups can use to strive for spreading awareness on issues, and often, it overlaps with filmmakers or media content creators’ visions, helping them make the change for their own careers and the world.
Inspiration for Change
Whether the inspiration is to change how society views some issues or how the medium of film can be used to improve their own lives, the future filmmakers are agents of change through inspiration. Inspiring not only themselves to achieve lifelong goals or pursuits for career reasons, but also inspiring audiences through their work and captivating imaginations, minds, and hearts, film is an essential vehicle for change. Much like helping make or shift opinions, inspiration operates in a similar way in that it requires an abundance of information, knowledge, and understanding about specific topics before real change can happen, which is why film can accomplish this task. It’s an accessible form of media that people actively seek out for enjoyment or education and can teach in a way that’s hard through the written word.
Using Technology for Good
The film industry, which includes amateur and freelance documentarians and filmmakers, has always been closely connected to technology. Whether it’s using the latest cameras used by Hollywood, or utilizing a phone to capture an entire feature-length film, the use of technology in the film world has facilitated real change by adopting these new devices to spread awareness. Technology can be criticized for any number of reasons, but one thing is that it’s helping educate people by spreading useful knowledge. Filmmakers have learned how they can use access to resources like hosting sites, cloud storage, mobile apps, and social media to increase their audience. Whether this technology is being used for entertainment purposes, or to grow an audience and shed light on an unknown problem in society, technology is part of the reason why future filmmakers are going to be able to make their voices heard.
Inclusivity and Growth in Professional Settings
Inclusivity is a major problem in many professional settings, and the film industry is no different. Getting more voices out there means more perspectives and backgrounds with different opinions, life experiences, and diverse questions. Inclusivity in the film industry means a bigger platform for women, gay, and black filmmakers, among the countless other racial, sexual, and religious backgrounds that deserve to be heard. This is growth in an influential professional setting that can set a strong long-term precedent for helping more voices be heard. It’s hard for many marginalized groups to be taken seriously, especially their issues in society, but film is a medium that, as you probably know by now, is massively crucial for these groups to be able to feel included in society. Film, as a force for change, means a force for good for those who need to be heard, and the future of filmmaking is more diverse, inclusive, and has a wider cultural and world view for all audiences to partake in.
The world is changing fast, and it can be hard to keep up. The job of filmmakers is to document the world in some way. Doing it for entertainment is a way to imagine a world from the imagination, while documentaries are an attempt to factually account for events or stories from extensive world views or on a personal scale. The future of filmmakers will be valuable in shaping the world, as this medium is so important to how many people get their knowledge on the world or form opinions. The changes that future filmmakers have the power to make will be vital in seeing how different perspectives are appreciated on screen for years to come.
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