Charles writes how without technology has changed the way films are made and distributed allowing Hollywood to produce the volume of films that it does.

In 2011, the first feature film shot entirely on a Smartphone was screened at a West Hills cinema in Los Angeles. Olive, by director Hooman Khalili, was filmed solely on a Nokia N8 and thanks to its cinema run, qualifies for Academy Award consideration. Olive is a reminder that the traditional days of filmmaking are now behind us. The film industry today is in a constant state of change, with a wealth of new opportunities available for those with their finger on the pulse. Thanks to rapidly evolving digital technology, film making and distribution is undergoing a major revolution. Avenues such as YouTube, web series and smart phone applications are all viable- and often lucrative- methods of getting work into the public eye.

Digital imaging technologies are rapidly transforming nearly all phases of contemporary film production. Film-makers today storyboard, shoot, and edit their films in conjunction with the computer manipulation of images. For the general public, the most visible application of these technologies lies in the new wave of computer-generated and -enhanced special effects that are producing images unlike any seen previously.

Digital distribution is radically rewriting the rules of the feature film business in much the same way it did with other creative industries such as music and publishing, altering not only established release patterns and revenue models but causing (as well as responding to) seismic shifts in audience behaviour and expectations. While the internet has enabled greater audience numbers to watch more feature films than at any time in history, it has also caused these audiences to fragment across multiple platforms.