Film Fading to Black is a really interesting look at the current state of film from the team over at Creative Cow. What hooked me is the first paragraph (emphasis mine):
While the debate has raged over whether or not film is dead, ARRI, Panavision and Aaton have quietly ceased production of film cameras within the last year to focus exclusively on design and manufacture of digital cameras. That’s right: someone, somewhere in the world is now holding the last film camera ever to roll off the line.
And by “film,” I mean the celluloid medium (as opposed to tape or a digital storage device). The last time Groovy Like a Movie shot on film was circa 2004 for a car commercial (when I was seriously considering purchasing an A-Minima), so while this has no real practical effect on us as a business, I think there is a mind-set that is different when shooting with film vs shooting with video – and I fear the loss of this way of thinking.
Once while shooting video, I heard a director say “just keep rolling – the tape is the cheapest thing on set.” While this “just keep rolling” mentality may catch some happy accidents (unintentional moments that are good, but couldn’t have been planned for), I think overall it is bad for a production. When shooting film, every movement on set is choreographed. Everything is planned. Everyone is careful. There is artistry – there had to be – because making a mistake when shooting film could be costly.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m not pining away for the good-ol days of changing bags, maxing out at 8-minute takes, and not knowing for days if you actually had the shot you needed. Digital is an improvement in almost every way over film. However – the artistry – That’s hard to achieve when everything is so easy. People get lazy. It’s in our nature to do the least amount of work necessary – conserve energy whereever possible!
That’s part of why I like working with our RED ONE (and soon our RED EPIC). These cameras have all the benefits of a digital workflow, but many of the trappings of working on film. Because they’re not simply point and shoot cameras, it brings the necessary artistry back to production. Crews and directors take their time; We carefully choreograph moves, but we can instantly call up the shot* and make sure we have what we need. And if we have to improvise, it can be done!
So a moment of silence for the passing of film – not tomorrow, and maybe not soon – but with no major manufacturers building new film cameras, it is now inevitable.
Film is dead – long live film-style production!
*OK – Epic playback isn’t “instant” yet – but a few minutes at a DIT station is much better than 48 hours at a film processing house!