Task 2: Nowadays it is not only large companies that can make films. Digital technology enables anyone to produce films. Do you think it is a positive or negative development?

In this digital age, there has been a growing tendency that films can be produced by unprofessional film-making personnel and individuals without a cinema background, making cinematography no longer exclusive for large movie producers. In my opinion, this is a welcome development thanks to a number of benefits it offers that will be mentioned in this essay. The ubiquity of film editing applications on high-tech gadgets has a significant role to play in discovering potential film-makers with brilliant directing and film shooting talents but have limited financial capacity. Particularly, in many Asian countries, there have been innumerable unknown individuals who have attained resounding success in their dream film career after their movie products are released on Youtube - a popular video-sharing platform or posted on social networking sites like Facebook. Although those films were produced by amateur film-making teams with low-budget, they are well-received by the public, enabling those young and inexperienced filmmakers to become overnight sensations and also make a name for actors and actresses starring in those movies. Therefore, it can be said that digital technology has made a great contribution to laying the foundation for a successful film career of movie crews, by helping them exhibit their talents in directing and acting and achieve their ambition in making it to the top in this career. Furthermore, technological innovations also serve a crucial function in adding more variety to cinematography. One justification for that is that films produced by large corporations tend to be limited to just a handful of themes and backgrounds. Hollywood filmmaking industry perfectly exemplifies this situation when Hollywood blockbusters were often Americentric and only revolved around a number of genres ranging from comedies, action movies, superheros, romance and science fiction for example. On the other hand, movies produced by potential filmmakers, albeit amateur, have transcended/overcome the barriers of ethnicities and backgrounds. Therefore, with the assistance of technological handheld devices, coupled with film making applications at our disposal, the number of films can be added to thousands, not mention to millions, with more themes discovered and a greater array of settings shown in different corners of the world. This will undoubtedly both boost the development of the film industry and also embrace cultural identities of different countries around the globe, with people of different races, genders and nationalities featured in those movies. In conclusion, I believe that the widespread popularity of films made by amateur film-makers is a positive trend, as it adds spices to the film making industry and promotes aspiring individuals who desire to pursue professional film careers.