The modern filmmaker must make a choice that 20 years ago, nobody may have even thought twice about: film or digital? Today’s filmmakers are making the switch to digital technologies to shoot their films, movie theaters are switching out old film projectors for digital systems and many are concerned for the future of film technology.
Known for its rich and diverse film community, UCLA is a hub for student filmmakers and film scholars alike to educate themselves and the community on these technologies. Faculty and students in the UCLA film community are questioning whether digital technology makes film irrelevant altogether.
“I like the simplicity and the robustness of the film technology. There’s great versatility with the digital technology – but it’s a very delicate technology to work with,” said William McDonald, professor and chair for the Department of Film, Television and Digital Media at UCLA.
Having had the opportunity to work with both, McDonald said his professional experience as a cinematographer and educator has taught him to accept both film and digital technologies for what they can contribute to the art form.
“They each have their own quirks, strengths and weaknesses. You just have to work with them,” McDonald said.
Recently, the Los Angeles Times announced that Paramount Pictures will distribute its films exclusively in digital format. This news is particularly concerning for Jan-Christopher Horak, director of the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
“We still have film material that needs to be protected because it’s on nitrate and other old film stocks, and some of that material we want to store,” said Horak. “If the manufacturers stop making film, that’s not going to be possible anymore.”
Horak said that organizations like the UCLA Film and Television Archive can’t keep up with digital formats that constantly upgrade, and call for, at least, the making of negatives for preservation.
“It’s safer to save it on film,” said Horak. “For long-term preservation, digital information doesn’t last. If we take a film, we can put it into the vault, and it will be safe for 500 years. Digital doesn’t even come close to that. We don’t even think digital can last five years or 10 years.”
Third-year film student Andrey Misyutin said that he can speak a lot on the pros of the digital media that we work with in today’s world.
“In the current environment, with so many things that can go wrong, it’s nice to work with digital cinema, because you are working with a hard drive,” said Misyutin.
Misyutin said that his fellow students, growing up in a digital world, are extremely competent with current technologies and know the appropriate care that they require. He said digital technology has made filmmaking even more obtainable to the young filmmaker.
“Filmmakers, even with an extremely low budget, can come out with incredibly high-quality work, and it’s all because of the digital technology.” Misyutin said.
McDonald said that although there is polarity with the issue of film versus digital, there is still a fair number of people in the industry who believe the two can coexist.
“They’re both wonderful tools, and they both have their applications,” said McDonald. “Film will always be around. There will always be somebody who will manufacture film, though it may become a very niche kind of format some number of years down the road.”
Dino Everett, archivist at USC’s Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive, said he is one of those people.
“There’s been an ongoing debate on which is better, but the more accurate (statement) is that they’re different,” Everett said. “So why not have more options?”
Everett said a lot of smaller theaters and art house cinemas rely on film archives to provide film, as they can’t keep up with the constant updating of projectors required to screen the digital format.
He also said that learning to use film is a useful technique for any filmmaker, and that the tools to do so are still out there.
“There’s a lot of doomsday talk about the end of film,” he said. “My philosophy is that if you want something, just do it.”
To help demonstrate his point, Everett plans to make, shoot and project in three-millimeter film, an unusually tiny format that currently doesn’t exist in the market.
Everett said by working in a format completely out of circulation, he hopes to show that if a filmmaker wants to use traditional film formats, often a useful tool for particular situations, there is nothing stopping them.
With their belief in its importance, McDonald and the film department incorporate film into their curriculum. Cinematography students specifically begin with a foundation of film, eventually advancing to digital techniques.
“When they move into digital technologies, they learn to control it, rather than it controlling them with all of the automatic features,” said McDonald. “And so their work tends to be much stronger digitally with a film foundation.”
Pursuing a focus in cinematography himself, Misyutin said he does not have any experience shooting on film, and he is looking forward to taking a cinematography course next quarter with Professor McDonald.
“I am completely dedicated to taking a class that teaches me how to shoot on film. I feel that regardless of the fact that it’s going out of style, it’s one of those traditional things you have to experience as a cinematographer,” said Misyutin.
Though the film community has its concerns about both film and digital technologies, many see expanding opportunities for the growing population of filmmakers. Horak said that distribution is more attainable, adding that with the lower cost of new tools, people have more access to equipment, expanding the demographic of those who can create and contribute to the film world.
“You get minority communities who can take the camera into their own hands and produce their own work within their own communities, and that’s an exciting development,” said Horak.
McDonald said he couldn’t be more enthused for the future of filmmaking and the next generation of filmmakers.
“It’s exciting for my students. They’ve got these new technologies, whether you want to shoot in film or edit in digital …There are so many possibilities – and that’s great,” he said.