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.
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