As more and more independent filmmakers alter their standards to accommodate for the digital medium, well-known Hollywood film directors and cinematographers will gradually also make the move from film to digital. The primary reason why Hollywood hasn't made a major effort to going digital is because it is too used to shooting in film. Film users were regarded as craftsmen, and video users were considered artless. The boundary between film and digital cinematography is becoming seemingly less visible. Recently, more directors and cinematographers have decided to switch to high definition due to aesthetic reasons and the fact that digital is more user adjustable.Most independent filmmakers have already embraced the digital medium. According to independent filmmaker A.D. Calvo of Goodnight Film, "the accessibility provided by digital video is a major step into democratization of the film industry." He also states, "People want a broader range of films and choice than millions of dollars spent on color touch-ups...It makes sense to keep work entirely digital, that's what most indie films are doing." Digital cinematography offers a new template for films in the industry, and it can be easily obtained thanks to the studios' ridiculously high budgets. With high definition video, there is less room available for material manipulation. Most of the work is done in post houses, where a large portion of the budget is invested. In high budget productions such as Sin City and Superman Returns (top left), the budgets were about $40 million and $200 million dollars. However, a lot of money was saved using digital intermediate over film. Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel used a Panavision Genesis to shoot much of Superman Returns. He chose to go digital because he and director Bryan Singer were "trying to find some format that would celebrate the iconic, hyper-real feeling of Superman." Budget restraints kept them from shooting in 65 mm.
Due to the lower costs involved with shooting additional footage on digital mediums, more cinematographers can take advantage of the medium using far higher shooting rations. Lower shooting rations typical with film might save editing time, lowering post-production costs, which is one reason why some filmmakers are reluctant to switch to digital. However, digital intermediate continues to decrease in price and is becoming standard procedure for high-budget Hollywood films such as Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, David Fincher's Zodiac, and Michael Mann's (bottom right) Collateral. Directors such as Peter Jackson and James Cameron alternate between film and digital. Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the more recent King Kong were large budget films shot entirely with digital film cameras, and the most recent film, Crossing the Line, is shot entirely with a tremendously high resolution 4K digital camera. Cinematographer Dean Semler worked on Apocalypto as well as Click, using the Genesis camera for both features. Based on Semler's experience, shooting film in digital meant saving thousands of dollars. Although the digital medium may seem more cost effective, Hollywood has been slow to adopt it.
Not as many Hollywood directors and cinematographers have utilized the digital medium as independent filmmakers have; Directors such as Steven Spielberg, M. Night Shyamalan, Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, and Oliver Stone choose to stick to the film medium because of the organic look that film provides. They prefer having sharper depth of field and harsher contrast in lighting. The French director Jean-Jacques Annaud condones both formats, using 35mm and HDCAM to
gether for Two Brothers. At the forefront of the integration of digital filmmaking in Hollywood is Mel Gibson, whose interest in the digital medium sparked interest for a "digital Hollywood."Director of Photography Dion Beebe shot most of Collateral and even more of Miami Vice in High Definition. He said that shooting digitally "is not a no-turn-back situation for me. For me, it's really about which format best suits the project and the story -- and [high-definition] brings another tool to the filmmaker..." He added that digital cameras "change some of the dynamics on the set...Cameras tend to roll a little more freely in HD, and... You're also so much more reliant on the monitor (Cinematech Blog)." According to John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners, almost all theaters are going to turn to digital cinema within the next decade. He believes that it will be the biggest transition in the movie theater industry since the advent of sound. (Psyorg web). Gradually, more directors and cinematographers are making the decision to go digital because of budgetary, aesthetic, and technical advantages the medium offers.
1 comment:
Excellent post! I find this material extremely fascinating! Your knowledge of this subject is quite comprehensive and it shows through in your writing. However, as Professor Middlebrook mentioned in class today, these papers require taking a position. I didn’t get the sense that you had taken a position, other than the fact that many people are moving to the digital medium from film. Is this good or bad? You did a great job telling who supports it and what they say about it, but you left out a rather critical element –the opposing viewpoint. This is a huge debate in Hollywood right now, many people are against going digital because it simply doesn’t have the “soul” of traditional film medium. I would have liked to see some of their arguments present in your post.
Your pictures were excellent! They fit in perfectly with the topic and were well placed. I would have liked to see some contextual reference to each image though. Just a simple “(at right)” or “(above left)” would have been great. Your contextual links were good as well. The only comment I have there, is that you could have used many more. In the sentence where you said “Digital intermediate continues to decrease in price and is becoming standard procedure for high-budget Hollywood films such as Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, David Fincher's Zodiac, and Michael Mann's Collateral,” you only put a link on Mel Gibson’s name. I think you should have also put links on the other directors’ names, as well as links to the movies’ websites that you mentioned.
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