I think we're going to enter a phase where there's less interest in the CGI and there's a demand for story again. I think we've dropped the ball a little bit on stories for the sake of the amazing toys that we've played with.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the need for storytelling over visual effects in filmmaking.
Peter Jackson reflects on the shifting priorities in cinema, suggesting that while technological advancements like CGI have greatly enhanced visual storytelling, there is a growing desire for more compelling narratives. He implies that an overemphasis on special effects may have led to neglecting the foundational element of film: a well-crafted story.
In practice
In a film class, discussing the balance between special effects and story.
We're human beings, and we want stories. We're always going to be entertained and have our emotions touched by humanity and by things that we recognize in our own lives. So whilst every now and again we'll be happy to watch a bubblegum film, it's never gonna be the only things that get made.
I have a freedom that's incredibly valuable. Obviously my freedom is far smaller in scale than people like Zemeckis and Spielberg have here. But it's comparable. I can dream up a project, develop it, make it, control it, release it.
Adapting a novel is not really about being faithful to every word and every moment the author has created. It's more about that same story being filtered through somebody else's sensibility.
As a filmmaker, I believe in trying to make movies that invite the audience to be part of the film; in other words, there are some films where I'm just a spectator and am simply observing from the front seat. What I try to do is draw the audience into the film and have them participate in what's happening onscreen.
The most honest form of filmmaking is to make a film for yourself.
I've always tried to make movies that pull the audience out of their seats... I want audiences to be transported.
The very best design, I feel, is that which resonates so deeply that people can't help but discover something within themselves when they see it.
I still consider myself to be introverted, but everyone has a side of themselves that is amplified. Performers have to learn to tap into that, even if it's not natural.
The beauty and genius of a work of art may be reconceived, though its first material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may yet again inspire the composer; but when the last individual of a race of living things breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again.
I began writing when I was still in the British Foreign Service, and it was then understood that even if you wrote about butterfly collecting, you used another name.
People said making clothes inside out was not proper. I disagreed, because clothes that are inside out are as beautiful as a cathedral.
There comes a moment when it is no longer you who takes the photograph, but receives the way to do it quite naturally and fully.
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