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So Sad!


Brian Rose

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After a long shoot, I was chatting with a few camera ops, some from my area, some out of town from LA. We were discussing respective projects, and I mentioned a documentary I hope to make, and how for the reenactments, I wanted to change format based on the timeperiod: 16mm black and white for the 60s, color (16mm or Super 8) for the 70s, beta and vhs for the 80s, and so on.

 

They looked at me with bewilderment, and said, "Dude, just shoot it all in HD, and apply a filter in Final cut. It's way easier."

 

Easier. Do it in post. Apply a filter. Sigh.

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It's easier for me to order a burrito from this mexican place in my neighborhood. But that doesn't make it better, nor necessarily cheaper. The understanding of this is what separates the wise from the smart.

Chin up, we all dance the HD devil once in awhile.

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If the Hollywood suits ran the live concert world we'd all be watching concerts lit by the stadium sports event lighting because (quote) "They do the same job cheaper and we don't have to hire high priced LD's and programmers or spend fortunes for electrical and rigging crews".

 

Fortunately for concert goers, musicians are Artists (for the most part) and won't put up with that sort of economic argument crap...and they also know that the film look makes for a better music video in many cases.

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I suppose what bothered me most was how readily they all subscribed to the easiest, cheapest method of achieving a result.

 

When it comes to formats, I have one first firmly planted in each realm: film and digital. I love them both, and believe neither is better nor worse than the other. They are all simply mediums with pros and cons that make them better applicable to some situations than others.

 

Not to mention I just don't believe you can replicate one thing to look like the other. Film will never look like digital, and digital will never match certain film stocks with qualities that are anathema to digital.

 

It was just such a shame that, in talking with fellow artisans, that they had lost (or perhaps never had) any imagination or inspiration. They just simply default for the easiest, the simplest, the cheapest, the method that can be reversed with the simple click of the "undo" button.

 

It has made me more resolved to pursue my original vision, because if my films are going to fail, I'd rather fail trying something different, then fail doing the same damn thing as these guys!

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After a long shoot, I was chatting with a few camera ops, some from my area, some out of town from LA. We were discussing respective projects, and I mentioned a documentary I hope to make, and how for the reenactments, I wanted to change format based on the timeperiod: 16mm black and white for the 60s, color (16mm or Super 8) for the 70s, beta and vhs for the 80s, and so on.

 

They looked at me with bewilderment, and said, "Dude, just shoot it all in HD, and apply a filter in Final cut. It's way easier."

 

Easier. Do it in post. Apply a filter. Sigh.

Yeah, listen to your instincts, man. Fix it in post = $$$$. The time and aggravation you spend fixing the problem on the set always outweighs the "post-fix". I've never seen an exception to this rule. Not ever.

 

Listening to every director and producer I ever worked for when I was within earshot of an editing suite, it was always them cursing why they couldn't fix something on set/location. Then they'd spend hours or days trying to think of how to fix something. And that was just to come up with a solution, not to actually implement it.

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Amazing gear! Too bad my film post-dates the technology somewhat, being situated mainly in the mid 60s onward.

 

I love the look of 50s color television. The process was fairly similar to Technicolor in terms of the basic principles, and the results were quite beautiful and saturated.

 

Here's an exceptional early example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKqHZcXvUAs

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