[Frameworks] Quo Vadis Celluloid?

[Myron Ort]

This ongoing obsession with digital technological perfection seems so  
inconsistent with say the set of aesthetic attitudes that produced a  
"23rd Psalm Branch" in regular 8mm.  Makes no sense to me.

Myron Ort


On Aug 21, 2011, at 11:51 AM, chris at signaltoground.com wrote:

> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:02:20 -0500
> From: Fred Camper <f at fredcamper.com>
>> Subject: Re: [Frameworks] Quo Vadis Celluloid?
>> To: Experimental Film Discussion List  
>> <frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com>
>> Message-ID: <20110819160220.13352yd9jm75r4ao at fredcamper.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; DelSp="Yes"; format="flowed"
>>
>> 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
>
> I've been mulling this over for a couple days. It seems like the
> digital/film debate has for years often been about resolution,  
> about the
> fact that film "looks" better. And it seems like the responses to Fred
> have  been largely along that line. But has that ever been anything  
> but a
> losing argument?  Resolution for video has been getting better and  
> better,
> to near "perfect" in the right settings. And I've never liked perfect.
>
> When you look at some of the old classics in film, they're a series of
> imperfections. Some of Brakhage's films fight between under and
> overexposure on purpose. Baillie's All My Life was (until he digitally
> corrected it) the "wrong" colour. Owen Land's films are most obviously
> shot on cheap sets. You can see the splices in Maya Deren's films  
> and you
> can feel the hesitation in a Mekas film. What film of Jack Smith  
> doesn't
> look like glorious crap and what would his film "Scotch Tape" be  
> without
> the... scotch tape.
>
> But to me its about the tools, which frankly don't make perfect  
> images.
> The regular 8 camera that keeps jamming, the super 8 camera where  
> you can
> pull the cartridge out and fog the film on purpose, the bolex,  
> where you
> can make superimpositions and be surprised about how the images come
> together. To me filmmaking has always been about limitations (the  
> wind,
> the 2 1/2 minute roll of film, etc.)
>
> I project one of my handprocessed films on video and it looks  
> "great", but
> to me its never been right. Because the other videos that are in that
> program, by other people, look so "perfect", with their HD devised  
> images
> and their 5-channel soundtrack sound. It looks strange because its  
> amongst
> other, very different work that comes from a very different visual
> tradition and aims for a clarity that I argue film never had.
>
> gotta run, so can't develop this much further. no pun intended.
> C
>
>
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