A depressing outlook.

Freya Black · February 14, 2014

Was anyone this bothered when they stopped recording dialogue on magnetic tape?

This debate will continue for years yet...

I think a lot of people just carried on recording on their Nagra.

Freya

Simon Glidewell · February 15, 2014

Long may film live. As has been mentioned elsewhere in this thread, the "pundits" were falling over themselves to rid this planet of the beastly vinyl record and record player and cleanse us for good from the "old fashioned" way of doing things. Happily for the likes of many here, they have failed miserably. The individuals behind modern technology and its dissemination want nothing more than for us to believe that their latest gadget is the must have and that things like film cameras have NO place in our modern world (nothing to do with lining their pockets of course). We are living in a rapidly increasing sanitised world where things like atmosphere and poetic statement are as redundant as your next computer purchase. I think many like me are getting utterly sick to the back teeth with the disposable ethos that now exists with regards to electronics (HD video, etc). My film company (training novice film makers) has two HD video cameras (both out of date within a couple of months of purchase) and three lovely standard 16mm cameras (Arri and Aaton). It won't be long before the video cameras will be junk, because technology dictates this, but the film cameras will last forever and take a pounding that no video camera could ever endure. These idiots behind the hype of modern technology want you to throw your trusty Arriflex into the dustbin and replace it with a shiny new £150,000 Soncanonsonic BVX 90000 XT1 virtual reality HD/3D wonder, which will be replaced in a fortnight by its brother. I think as long as there is a desire to make films, using film stock, it will continue, together with the labs that process it. I think the record player and record are proof of this; you just can't beat quality.

Cheers

Simon

Edited February 15, 2014 by Simon Glidewell

Simon Glidewell · February 15, 2014

As a follow up to the link at the start of this thread, one famous UK lab is still doing well and has recently been taken over by Cinelabs, Europe:-

http://www.screendaily.com/news/cinelabs-acquires-bucks-media-services/5057294.article

http://www.cinelab.co.uk/

Edited February 15, 2014 by Simon Glidewell

William Fischer · February 17, 2014

Variety covered the event in essentially the same way:

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/scientific-and-technical-academy-awards-oscars-farewell-to-film-1201106325/

John Miguel King · February 17, 2014

Can we just leave it at...

You like film? Great! I hope you can shoot on film whenever you want and make films the way you want.

I like digital? Great! I hope that you hope that I can shoot digital whenever I want and make films the way I want.

All else, such as this looks better than that, that looks better than this, the je ne se quai of film, the sharpness of digital... they´re like children. My children will always look way more beautiful to me than yours, and the other way round.

As dirty Harry said: "Opinions are like butts, everybody has one"

I just can't understand this quasireligious battle on one system vs the other. They're tools. Period. We're craftsmen. Period. Enjoy what you do and let others enjoy what they do. Period.

After all, we're there to capture talent that creates drama. We are not that important nor should we be.

Edited February 17, 2014 by John Miguel King

Simon Glidewell · February 17, 2014

Can we just leave it at...

You like film? Great! I hope you can shoot on film whenever you want and make films the way you want.

I like digital? Great! I hope that you hope that I can shoot digital whenever I want and make films the way I want.

All else, such as this looks better than that, that looks better than this, the je ne se quai of film, the sharpness of digital... they´re like children. My children will always look way more beautiful to me than yours, and the other way round.

As dirty Harry said: "Opinions are like butts, everybody has one"

I just can't understand this quasireligious battle on one system vs the other. They're tools. Period. We're craftsmen. Period. Enjoy what you do and let others enjoy what they do. Period.

After all, we're there to capture talent that creates drama. We are not that important nor should we be.

I certainly don't question yours or anyone elses desire to use video or film. My point is that the powers that be, want us to think that one system is defunct and that the other is the way forward, doing all they can to remove a perfectly good medium in order to line their pockets. Like the old telephones that had a bell and a dial; it worked perfectly well for years and sounded like a telephone, but now we have to be subjected to nauseating things the size of a biscuit with repellent ring tones or buzzing like a vibrator.

Reuel Gomez · February 17, 2014

I've never worked with either film or digital cinema cameras or really any piece of professional filmmaking equipment of any kind, but in my personal opinion, there should always be an analog, physical say to capture and store picture and sound. Because while it can be easily destroyed, it can't be deleted or corrupted. If poorly kept it can become damaged and unusable, but it wont glitch and break down. The preservation of analog mediums while in storage is dependent on US. If we store it correctly and use the right procedures from keeping anything bad from happening to it, it will survive. But digital mediums have a life of their own. And one glitch or one press of a key and your movie is gone for good.