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Look! You can sell your film gear now!


Will Montgomery

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I use my super8 cams on wedding events. I love the attention I get when I put down my DSLR and break out my Canon 814's. The older generation flock to you as they're quickly brought back to their time. The newer generation look at you like you just busted out some advanced movie camera that they have yet to see. That would be hard to replicate with a plugin :-)

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Well, OK, to an extent - but it's always been reasonably easy to make video look like bad film, or at least throw enough grain, scratches, flashes and other junk on it so it becomes difficult to tell the difference.

 

The target now is to make digifatal video to look like good film :D

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The target now is to make digifatal video to look like good film :D

Actually digital video already does a pretty good job with the Alexa and newer RED cameras. The sweet spot for film is the small formats, 8mm, Super 8 and 16mm where the small format's size and flaws are it's strength.

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Agreed. When I screened a bunch of my short films in NYC last summer at an After-Set screening, it was all DSLR until the final film, which I had shot on Super8 (100D and 500T). While some were a little confused by the different look, most loved it and felt it gave the story an edge artistically. I found the same rection at other festivals.

 

Granted, those were film-buff viewers, but still. Film has an affect lost with digital. Short films and music videos can benefit from the look and feel of small gauge film. I have another short I have been planning that will be shot entirely in Super8 and a feature film that would be shot with each of the three act structures in different formats. Act 1 with the RED, act 2 via Super8 and likely Super16 for act 3. Unless we can afford 35mm for act 3, that is.

Edited by Matt Stevens
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don't forget, you guys have access to and operate with film.. Most people who use this plugin have never even picked up a film camera.

 

I have Red Giant's magic bullet package and it does wonders for the colour.. Good enough to be used on FX's Justified and CSI : Miami...

 

But as you say... it's not GOOD film, just faking bad film.

 

SK

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Actually digital video already does a pretty good job with the Alexa and newer RED cameras. The sweet spot for film is the small formats, 8mm, Super 8 and 16mm where the small format's size and flaws are it's strength.

 

Try to convince of that to Spielberg, Almodovar... or the IMAX theatres that are going to spread in Europe B)

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Try to convince of that to Spielberg, Almodovar... or the IMAX theatres that are going to spread in Europe B)

Which IMAX theaters? The original 70mm film ones or all the new digital ones? Every new IMAX theater near me is all 4k digital. There are a couple film ones left in the Science museums that play the 45 minute IMAX documentaries and you can see the giant 70mm film going through the projector.

 

35mm is still a great method of origination and will be for some time. I certainly love it. However, 35mm advantages will be less and less. Already the production rental places are in love with Arri Alexa's because of their reliability and relative low downtime. Used to take an army of camera techs to keep film cameras going at those places. Now the techs only need to worry about lenses and batteries. That means they can keep more cameras renting for less money.

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Which IMAX theaters? The original 70mm film ones or all the new digital ones? Every new IMAX theater near me is all 4k digital. There are a couple film ones left in the Science museums that play the 45 minute IMAX documentaries and you can see the giant 70mm film going through the projector.

 

35mm is still a great method of origination and will be for some time. I certainly love it. However, 35mm advantages will be less and less. Already the production rental places are in love with Arri Alexa's because of their reliability and relative low downtime. Used to take an army of camera techs to keep film cameras going at those places. Now the techs only need to worry about lenses and batteries. That means they can keep more cameras renting for less money.

 

How do you explain that Kodak in 2011 and 2012 increased sales of 65mm camera filmstocks (and Super8 coincidentally)? Don't misunderstand me, for me the projection future is digital but the film camera is another thing, al least by today's facts (I wouldn't say digital as origination for top filmmaking is dead, either B) )

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[quote name='Miguel Loredo' timestamp='1353406690' post='379264']
How do you explain that Kodak in 2011 and 2012 increased sales of 65mm camera filmstocks (and Super8 coincidentally)? Don't misunderstand me, for me the projection future is digital but the film camera is another thing, al least by today's facts (I wouldn't say digital as origination for top filmmaking is dead, either B) )
[/quote]
You mention an increase in 65mm sales not 35mm. 35mm is the backbone and the only thing that maters to Kodak. 65mm and Super 8 are the fringe extremes of film usage; fun but not much of a business. The only reason we have either of those (and 16mm for that matter) is the production 35mm camera film. Those sales have plummeted. Don't think for a moment that Fuji would have gotten out of the business if there was a market.

No one is saying film is dead. Film sales in India are going great. They also have tons of theaters that only show film.

There are multitude of reasons why 35mm film production is drying up but here's one you don't actually hear about very much. The crews of TV shows in the U.S. and Canada that may have been shooting in 35mm for years have actually pushed for digital because they believe that's the way it is going. They want to have at least one season of digital work under their belt as they start looking for new jobs when their current shows are over. That's from Panavision people that are renting both film and digital cameras to those guys. It's a snow ball that's accelerating. Panavision is in fact collecting their film cameras and sending them out to major directors as thank you presents for past (and hopefully) future work. For instance, they'd send one of the cameras Jaws was shot on to Spielberg.

That doesn't mean film is going away completely, it just means the cash cow that was 35mm production is drying up and with it much of the infrastructure like labs and film supplies. It will almost always be available one way or another for hobbyists.

You'll see Indian companies buying up more and more film telecine manufacturers as India becomes the largest market for 35mm. I've seen 5 telecine machines get shipped over to India in the last few years from post houses I work with.
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