[Frameworks] 35mm film will be dead by 2015 and News Corp

[Tom Whiteside]

In the future we will see more programs listed as "projected through celluloid on authentic period instruments" just as we now see for some performances of Baroque music. When Walter Carlos released "Switched-On Bach," introducing a new electronic sound to 250 year old music, other musicians did not throw away their viol de gambas (or cellos, or pianos, on which we had "inauthentically" been playing Bach for years) just because the Moog was the new thing. Without a doubt, some of them considered the new sound to be horrendous, objectionable, and a scandal (perhaps they knew that JS Bach preferred the simpler sound of a Fender Rhodes) but perhaps they also realized that their "authentic" methods (cat gut instead of steel, for one thing) would become more popular once again. Some audiences would want to hear the music as it was originally performed. Personally I love the Moog, but do prefer to hear Bach performed by ensembles, each playing their own instruments. 

Changes will come and much will be lost, no doubt. I am holding onto my 16mm projectors, even the dead ones as I know they will be needed for parts in years to come. And although we all spend time in this digital age trying to keep files up to date (OMG, that is two years old!!) and migrating media so we can still use it, it is calming and refreshing to me that 80 year old film prints still run smoothly through my projectors.

How come no one on this list serve is celebrating the fact that second-hand 35mm projectors are going to be so unbelievably cheap in the next few years?  

	- Tom


-----Original Message-----
From: frameworks-bounces at jonasmekasfilms.com [mailto:frameworks-bounces at jonasmekasfilms.com] On Behalf Of Fred Camper
Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2011 8:20 PM
To: Experimental Film Discussion List
Subject: Re: [Frameworks] 35mm film will be dead by 2015 and News Corp

Programmers I know say that it is harder and harder to rent 35mm  
prints. Studios try to offer blu-ray, or, better, 4 K files on hard  
drives. Sometimes they don't make prints anymore. And archives, as a  
result, are now overwhelmed with requests for prints, and are cutting  
back and limiting how often they will send their prints out.

Sadly, we should probably be thinking about whether there are  
improvements to 4K and digital projection systems that will get us  
closer to the look of films that may soon not be available on film, or  
are already unavailable.

Fred Camper
Chicago

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