[Frameworks] Film and Digital for beginners

[Bryan McManus]

Hi Jonathan,

Great question, thanks for teaching cinema!  There are, for sure,
appreciable differences between the media - and I know that's what you were
asking for - but I think it may be valuable to mention to your students the
similarities of the media in terms of motivation.  Each, in its time and
way, is an attempt at capturing light/time and reproducing it.

I just bought a manual ceramic burr coffee grinder because my electric one
sparked and died.  I partly went analog because it cannot 'spark and die'
like my previous one.  I partly went analog for nostalgic and meditative
reasons.  But, essentially, each coffee grinder is approaching the same
problem - the whole roasted bean - and applying itself to reduce the bean
to grounds so that one can make a damn cup of coffee.  Instead of
contrasting analog against electronic  - I see them as tools, appropriate
for different times, different moods.  I realize this is very subjective
and blurry - but so is life as I see it.

Also possibly of note - there are very few "films" shot on film, that stay
completely and firmly analog - which to me points even more to the
increasingly subjective choice of either format.  I've only seen Brakhage's
"mothlight" digitally - and would love to see it on film because of the
sound the projector makes.

Best of luck to you,

Bryan


Bryan McManus, Digital Arts Studio Director
cityartsdas.wordpress.com


On Fri, Jul 13, 2012 at 3:42 PM, Jonathan Walley <walleyj at denison.edu>wrote:

> Hello everyone,
>
> This question isn't about experimental cinema specifically, but it's
> certainly an important question for our world, and I think experimental
> filmmakers (and scholars, critics, etc.) are among those best equipped to
> answer it. So here goes. There is some preamble meant to set the stage, but
> you can skim it and skip down to the question if you want.
>
> Each semester I teach an introductory cinema studies course called "Film
> Aesthetics and Analysis." The main goal of the course is to teach students
> how to analyze film aesthetics (in case the title of the class didn't make
> this obvious), and it is aimed at the general campus community, not just
> Cinema majors. Indeed, the majority of students in the class are non-majors
> who have never studied film before.
>
> Early in the course I talk about filmmaking on a very material level -
> call it the "nuts and bolts" of filmmaking, a subject I return to
> periodically across the semester (e.g. how cameras work, the process of
> editing, projection, etc.). I have always privileged film - that is,
> analogue, photochemical, mechanical, "celluloid" film - but to keep up with
> the times I have been trying to talk more about digital cinema technology,
> with a view to contrasting the two media. Though I'm a luddite when it
> comes to film, I'm not necessarily interested in converting my students to
> that mindset, nor to favoring one medium over another. I simply want my
> students to understand the ramifications of shooting, editing, projecting,
> and viewing films on different media.
>
> SO NOW, THE QUESTION: what would you say are some of the most important,
> and most fundamental, differences between making and/or seeing "films" in
> these two media, in terms that intro-level undergrads can understand and
> appreciate. For example:
>
> -true black is not possible in digital projection the same way it is in
> film projection (something I can actually demonstrate in class).
> -differences in resolution.
> -different "lifespans" of film and digital.
>
> And so on and so forth. Though I do talk about things outside the realm of
> film aesthetics specifically (such as the cost of digital conversion,
> preservation issues, etc.), my main interest is in showing my students the
> concrete, appreciable consequences that attend the decision to do something
> in film or in digital. And to be able to demonstrate them in class with
> specific examples - using the 16mm and digital projectors I have in the
> classroom - would be nice, so suggestions of such specific examples would
> be appreciated.
>
> Thanks in advance for any ideas.
> Best,
> Jonathan
>
> Jonathan Walley
> Dept. of Cinema
> Denison University
>
>
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