Kodak just filed for bankruptcy. The venerable company was founded in 1892 by George Eastman. Much hand wringing and despair has circled on the internet as of late, including Twitter and Facebook as well as other social networking websites over the impending death of motion picture film as a medium. There is even an online petition trying to save 35mm as a projection format.Yes, there are benefits to the medium. Film has a soft, almost magical feel to it when projected. I also can't deny the sexy and alluring nature of shooting on film. We tend to think of ourselves as filmmakers, not digital video makers. I liken it to the soft, crunchy, sweet analog sound of vinyl. There's nothing more satisfying than putting on an old jazz record while drinking a glass of wine.
As someone who has been involved in the independent film world since I started back at UCSB in the 90s, I have spent a good deal of time working with 8mm, 16mm, Super16, and 35mm. After dealing with film stock, processing, answer prints, check prints, answer prints, etc., I say "Good riddance!" Film is an expensive, unwieldy, time-consuming medium.
Actually, my relationship with film goes back farther than my time in college. When I was a kid, we'd make little 8mm films and show them to our friends and family. We also had an old 8mm projector and a couple of 8mm reels of old Disney cartoons. They were all silent of course. But you didn't need sound in order to enjoy the films as a kid.
Once I moved on to college and began making films in the late 90s and 2000's, making films was an expensive hobby. People routinely spent $30,000-50,000 just to make a short film. When I made my short film 'Coffee', I shot on Super 16mm and called in a ton of favors. Even with getting major discounts I wound up spending between $15,000-$20,000 on the film. At the time, filmmaking was the purview of the upper middle-class and wealthy. It was somewhat of an elitist institution. Most filmmakers went into massive debt and racked up huge credit cards bills. Some even mortgaged their houses to finance their dreams. When Steven Soderbergh made Sex, Lies and Videotape in 1989 for a million dollars, that was seen as revolutionary low budget filmmaking.
Digital cinema only really became common in the past 5 years. In 2005, a website called Youtube was created where people could instantly upload their videos for all of the world to see. The balance of power began to shift. Creators of content were no longer dependent on film festivals and film distributors as the gate keepers and arbiters of taste. Anyone with a digital camera could create videos cheaply using a digital camera or webcam and upload it for all of the world to see. And we had some early success stories, including Lonelygirl15, who attracted millions of views to her videos. Originally thought to be an actual girl's autobiographical video diary, it was later found to be the work of three independent filmmakers. The potential for the new medium was being explored.
Other outlets such as Myspace, CDBaby, and DeviantArt popped up. At first they were laughed off as a place for amateurs and kids with no talent. Since then, Hollywood has wised up. All the the major agencies and studios have people dedicated to finding new talent on the internet and other new media. We have begun to see the rise of internet celebrities, such as Perez Hilton, Freddie Wong, and of course, Felicia Day, whose web series The Guild garnered millions of viewers, a sponsorship from Microsoft, and spin offs including music videos and comic books. Over the past five years, digital filmmaking has become a hotbed for creativity and an outlet for creatives to display their work.
The point I am trying to make is that digital filmmaking, through ease of use, low entry point and ease of distribution is making it easier for storytellers to get their work out there and be seen. It has democratized the process. Stories that would never have been able to be told are now able to reach their audiences. Sure, there is an increase of inferior product being made. When you shot on film you had to spend time to be sure everything was right before you started filming. But it also means that as a creator, I spend less time worrying about F-stops and exposures and more time on telling the story and getting the best performance possible. Think of some of the amazing movies of the past couple of years that would not have been possible without digital filmmaking, like Restrepo, Bowling For Columbine, 28 Days Later, and Winter's Bone.
It's not just the filmmaking side that has become easier. With digital projection, distribution becomes a lot more feasible and accessible than before. It used to be that you had to spend thousands of dollars to create a 35mm print in order to see your film up on the big screen. With HDCAM and now Blu-ray DVDs, you can see your film projected in high quality on the big screen in front of an audience, which is something most filmmakers want. There is nothing that can replace that collective experience of seeing your film with a paying audience. It can be incredibly exciting and terrifying all at once.
The flip side is that the technology is advancing so rapidly that digital movies made a couple years ago look low budget and amateurish compared to films made with the latest technology. There is still a lot of work to be done. Theaters are still struggling to adapt to a standard format and set of standards for digital cinema projection.
The thing that intrigues me is the move towards a non-physical media world. You won't be using tapes, film mags, or cassettes. Everything will be recorded directly to a hard drive that can easily be transferred digitally to an editing station half a world away. No longer will we have to wait for dailies. They will be instantaneous. Corrections can be made on the fly.
It will also change the way we distribute films. No longer will we be delivering tapes and masters to theaters and broadcasters. The entire movie will be easily downloaded via Smartjog or Aspera, or some other FTP service. You will no longer be limited by physical geography. Theaters won't have to worry about costly prints, worrying about shipping expenses, film breaks, burns, splices, etc.
As a movie-goer, I will miss the experience of seeing a film projected on 35mm. There is something magical about 35mm. But I don't think all of the film technology in the world could make a film like Jack and Jill enjoyable. Rather than fearing the future and new technology, we should embrace it and explore new ways to tell stories and entertain audiences around the world. We're in the midst of a magical transformation in the movie business and I can't wait to see where this leads us.
