Apart from film screenings, this year's Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF) also features various themed forums where industry insiders get together to share ideas and discuss future trends. One of them focuses on film technology. 

Compared to movies in the past, today's theaters offer more diversified experiences to their audiences, especially with the spread of IMAX, 3D technologies and the frequent use of CGI. So where will future's filmmaking lead us to? That’s one of the topics discussed here at the film tech forum.

Six industry experts from home and abroad each gave a keynote speech at the forum before their panel discussion.

Neil Xie, vice president of Base FX, one of the leading visual effects and animation studios in Asia, talked about how to optimize budget while ensuring quality.

"One of our recent projects was 'Detective Chinatown', and for many scenes we would create a 3D animation before the actual filming took place. That way, the director has something to refer to and can make adjustments so we don't waste time on set. And as you can see (on the screen) the 3D simulation is very close to the final result, the breakdowns, and everything. We do whatever that can be done before filming so that there's less pressure during post-production," he said.

Despite the soaring development of new technologies, the speakers all agreed that good storytelling should still remain the core when it comes to making movies, and should never take a backseat to mind-blowing special effects.

Anthony Lamolinara, an Oscar-winning visual effects director known for his work on "Spider Man 2" said technology should serve the storytelling.

"You know, stories should come first. A good story and good acting should be the first concern. Really good actors and good stories then visual effects helps something. Then use it, not then don't use it. I think most visual effects supervisor would say try to do the shot without special effects," Lamolinara shared with CGTN.

Chris Godfrey, the VFX supervisor behind films such as "Hacksaw Ridge" and "The Great Gatsby" added that a strong line of communication between the director and the special effects team is crucial.

"You know on occasion you go on a set, I get this done to me, I get to set one time there were 12 cars on a piece of dirt in the blue screen. And no one could tell me what they're there for, and you got OK we're shooting today. They put bud everywhere and the set was ruined and the shot had to be cancelled. You have to be realy, really accurate. I mean, at the end of the day, we're a business, the film industry," Godfrey said. 

The forum is part of the many sideline events at this year's BJIFF, which runs until Sunday.