New Life In Film

If it was hipsters that did it, great. Hollywood’s socialist mentality? Fine. The love of film, even better. What I think it came down to…was the simple concept that we will constantly fall back on, which is craft and art trumps commerce.

Kodak Motion Picture division announced today, that with the release of “Star Wars” “Jurassic World” “Spectre” & “Hateful 8” they no longer rely on deals with studios to sustain film in the industry. While it still remains a “niche” market, this is great news for filmmakers who shoot on film (like me). Since it means they will make a profit and grow. Which means others will have an opportunity to continue to tell their stories with film.

I’ve bang the drum incessantly about the benefits of shooting on film. I’ve sent my thoughts to Kodak representatives who appreciated my continued support. What is odd is how much Kodak motion picture film had always been at the fray for me. For different reasons now, but back in the 80’s, I only had access to Super 8mm cameras. I wanted to make the movies that Spielberg made (“Raiders of The Lost Ark”). Or Victor Fleming made (“Gone With The Wind”). This was already inaccessible to a kid in Cincinnati. I didn’t know where to begin. Now, with the internet, it wouldn’t be a problem to seek it out. But back then, I had to search through the paper to find someone who was selling a film camera. I rode two buses to get to a guy who was selling his Super 8mm camera and all this film editing gear. It was so amazing. Frame flipping onto frame, making movement Holding the film. The physical movement in itself was crafted design. I recall the little well of splicing cement to piece the movie together. The first run through the projector was magic. Fuck you and your pity shrug, that’s something most of the this generation won’t have the benefit of experiencing. When pictures moved.

So I’d share a few thoughts here that I didn’t mention as much elsewhere.

Shooting on film isn’t just doing it because it’s cool. It’s a great deal of discipline and crafting that requires a few arts and sciences. In the digital world, you read a lot of scales and color waves to determine if you’re within tolerance of the mid-range. While shooting film, you watch the light. You study the movement of the actors in the light, and you determine if the film can handle that latitude. How much more simple is that? The film gets to the laboratory to which you wait for the outcome. A few factors people never see, is the painstaking balance of temperature, time and tolerance of the chemicals that goes into making sure of consistency. Like a master beer brewer, it is of utmost care nothing delineates from the norm (my company does something called “sweeps” which measures the levels to which that chemistry at that time process the negative. Then they calibrate the Arrilaser (digital file burner to film) to their adjustments. Then the film is sent to the lab at that level. Yeah, mad scientist shit to which I am only an observer. Mistakes costs money.

With shooting on film, EVERY moment matter. For most, we don’t spray a scene and hope we find it in edit. The coverage HAS to make sense. Since you’re burning through money. This saves on a few levels. You don’t tax a star (who is paying more than the entire budget of movie) and you don’t waste your time on what ifs. Because, the honest truth is, the reason people shoot digital isn’t the craft of it, or the art, it’s because of the fear. Because the apprenticeship concept is also dead and gone (despite unions, and because of our newly found entitled movie making youth) everyone starts at the top and works to the middle. Everyone is already a superstar. I could offer training with Vilmos Zigsmond shooting film to someone 20’s and below, and they’d turn me down. Why would they need to know craft and suffer the indignities of cleaning camera cases when they have a digital camera in hand making YouTube videos? It is a discipline.

One of the key things that makes film so important to me, may sound corny and hipster, but to me…it’s all about focus. When people hear film moving there is respect. From every department people feel the permanence of what they’re doing. That they are in the shadow of people who did this before them. There’s too many digital cameras, different brands, and different nuances to solidify a pattern. With film, there is the basic movement of film that moves through a gate. It hasn’t changed in Poland, Italy, China, Germany, or the United States. It is a universal format. And you could ask any film shooter if they’ve ever mastered it? The answer most likely would be “no.” Digital shooting is taking all the joy of making movies out of the hands of skilled people and putting into hands of histogram readers. The science trumped the art. Shooting film, science assists art.

I’m very thankful for Kodak’s existence because of the memories. And that what we do shouldn’t come easy, if we love it, it always haunts us. I guess I’ll finally wear the label of “hopeless romantic of a bygone era” proudly, whereas, it’s no longer just the mechanics and the craft, it’s the past I prefer to protect.