[Frameworks] Quo Vadis Celluloid?

[Pip Chodorov]

The question has nothing to do with whether film and video LOOK different.
The fact is that they ARE different. That's it.
If a great cook needs goat's milk for a specific recipe and can only 
get buttermilk, the result will not be the same.

Anyway, I wanted to share with you all an idea that Jonas Mekas has 
been cogitating about for some time. Since the National Film 
Preservation Society is preserving 140 million feet of film and has 
acquired "a bevy of sparkling new film processors"  (see page 3 of: 
http://www.amiaconference.com/techrev/V10_02/papers/weismann.pdf), 
then film stock is a national necessity, and its production should 
therefore be supported and sustained by the government. The 
government gave many billions of dollars to the car industry a few 
years ago, then to the banking industry. Maybe the government should 
sponsor Kodak to create the film stock it needs as a primary resource 
to preserve its national heritage. Once Kodak shuts down, it will be 
much more expensive to build a facility to make stock and find and 
train the technicians. And we (the USA) don't want to depend on Fuji 
or Orwo, do we? Jonas' idea is to circulate a petition among the most 
influential film personalities and film preservation agencies to 
raise consciousness about the issue and eventually lobby congress. 
Cinema is probably America's most prominent national export, reaching 
every country in the world. Surely, Kodak is a worthwhile target of 
government support. What do you think?

-Pip



At 16:02 -0500 19/08/11, Fred Camper wrote:
>I doubt Microsoft or Google would be interested in buying Kodak. They 
>tend to buy new technology companies.
>
>I have a question, though, for those horrified by the possible (but, 
>in my view and hope, not impending) demise of celluloid. I am 
>horrified, too, in terms of the resulting inability to replicate older 
>works made to be shown on film. But this is a question for present 
>practitioners. Imagine a good high-def or very high-def image shown on 
>a projector (DLP?) or monitor of your choice. What is there about your 
>particular practice that depends only on celluloid and could not be 
>accomplished with video? How major would the loss be for you, and what 
>kind of loss is it, and why would it be so major?
>
>Fred Camper
>Chicago