The aging (and possible death) of a good friend: Film

We are moving into a very digital era in our time. I remember the buzz when Lucas announced he was going to only “film” on digital because he felt film would be obsolete in ten years. While that was over 14 years ago this statement came out, it seems to be ringing true when a good friend told me that our local place we see films at (AMC Burbank) has gotten rid of all of their film projectors and have now been replaced with digital ones. In a way this made me want to cry, because while digital is a nice feature it still is in no way touch the beauty and depth that is film. I think this is one of the reason why I don’t like watching movies on TV’s (no matter the size, or dpi, or HD quality which I’m sorry I still don’t find is great for films, fine for sports though) because it’s on film and I don’t think a TV can capture what a filmmaker was trying to convey when it’s on a movie screen then a little TV. You loose so much. I know many disagree with me on this, that’s fine. I grew up in theaters. My father and I would always go see two films together and honestly it was because of him and my grandma Eilene who taught me the love of film.

And yet as I write this I’m sitting here staring at a script and thinking to myself how in the world can I afford to put this on film. Film is expensive and while it was nice having the school pay for some of it (with my tuition money) I simply do not have those means anymore. So do I go digital? Ugh.

Dilemma.

This past weekend I was a 1st AD for a short film a friend of mine was directing and they used the 7D by Canon (if you recall this camera was used to shoot the last episode in the Fox show House), which of course was cheaper (just need a hard drive to transfer your footage). So while I sit here and figure out the balance I need (cuz you need a figure in mind when you want to start fundraising) it comes down to money. As much as I don’t want to shoot on digital, the hard fact is to make this film I want to make I may have too. Unless there is some magical fairy out there who can grant me unlimited amount of film and processing?

Yeah didn’t think so.

So I will leave you with a quote I’m stealing from a friend’s facebook that I think rings very true to those who get to play with film (because they have studio backing or a benefactor or well you get the idea).

‎"Every digital camera is trying hard to emulate 35mm film, and there's a reason for that.-Wally Pfister, ASC

So, so true.

Till Another,
Ne in Hollywood.