Samsara

I don't really even know how to describe Samsara, director Ron Fricke's documentary slice of life on an international scale. It takes us to places we've never been, and probably will NEVER go, and does so in a way that exudes the kind of cinematic beauty that is rare because it almost necessitates not being connected to any sort of narrative. Samsara has a narrative, I suppose, in the sense that is a story about the world, both good and bad. The 70mm cinematography is colorful and larger than life, and so are the people, ceremonies, and landscapes of the film. A must see.

Wally Pfister on Film

"An artist has to be open to new technology, but my argument is, ‘Don’t make this equipment obsolete for the wrong reasons, because this format really is superior to anything else out there." - Wally Pfister

The 8mm Revolution

"The 8mm Revolution" - SUPER 8 Movie Featurette from Cinelicious on Vimeo.

100

100 from Stewart Schuster on Vimeo.

"Addressing the Rumors" by Kodak's Kim Snyder

This article is copyright Kim Snyder and Kodak.

When a New York newspaper reported that Mark Twain had been lost at sea, he is said to have replied, “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

We know the feeling.

There has been much speculation about the fate of Kodak motion picture film over the last few weeks. We at Kodak refuse to let the volatility of the market or the rumors distract us from our mission – to provide the highest quality tools to tell your stories.

We are still making film – billions of feet of it! Sure, digital technology has impacted how filmmakers approach their work. But Kodak is a company with a long and brilliant presence, all built on ground-breaking science and technology. We are committed to continuing to do so, even in today’s landscape where film and digital coexist.

Something else that seems to get lost in the hype: We are more than a film company; we are the innovators who understand image making more than anyone else. We possess critical expertise from our past which we draw upon for our future. We have some of the brightest and most innovative researchers and scientists in the business working on our products – film and otherwise – to carry us into the future.

For example, our laser projection technology was recently licensed by IMAX (view the release). Laser projection technology offers a multitude of benefits to the viewing audiences, and features that help bring your vision to the big screen in better ways. IMAX and Kodak understand the need for this innovation. We are delighted to be working with them to assist with the implementation of the technology into the IMAX product family.

That’s not all. We are leveraging Kodak technology and intellectual property to bring an innovative digital asset management solution to market. It’s designed for content owners with assets of all formats created over the years.

And we will soon be introducing a new film! A new member of the VISION3 family of color negative films will be added to your film choices. With the latest film technology in the can, you can keep rolling in the most challenging production situations – on set or on location – and maintain a high resolution image through post and distribution.

Furthermore, with film still maintaining its archival leadership role in preserving the memorable images of the past centuries, we continue R&D towards expanding our archival film products to create a platform of choices for a variety of needs.

We’ll have more news on these new offerings soon, so stay tuned!

The bigger picture is: We have a great depth of experience and possibilities for turning 125-plus years of imaging technology and inventive product development into new solutions. Our KODAK DIGITAL ICE technology in scanners are being used to restore some of the most memorable images from cinema and television history; and our subsidiaries continue to make inroads on preservation and restoration (FPC/Pro-Tek) and visual and physical effects (Cinesite).

Our goal is to continue to show you that Kodak is the go-to resource for the best in image quality and workflow solutions that support your creative intentions – because we know you care.

We invite you to view a list of projects whose filmmakers are choosing Kodak film.

We know we can help you accomplish your filmmaking dreams, so contact us. Our worldwide team of Kodak representatives and experts are at your service.

Thank you.

Film Fading To Black by Debra Kaufman

This article is copyright Debra Kaufman and Creative Cow.

While the debate has raged over whether or not film is dead, ARRI, Panavision and Aaton have quietly ceased production of film cameras within the last year to focus exclusively on design and manufacture of digital cameras. That's right: someone, somewhere in the world is now holding the last film camera ever to roll off the line.

"The demand for film cameras on a global basis has all but disappeared," says ARRI VP of Cameras, Bill Russell, who notes that the company has only built film cameras on demand since 2009. "There are still some markets--not in the U.S.--where film cameras are still sold, but those numbers are far fewer than they used to be. If you talk to the people in camera rentals, the amount of film camera utilization in the overall schedule is probably between 30 to 40 percent."

At New York City rental house AbelCine, Director of Business Development/Strategic Relationships Moe Shore says the company rents mostly digital cameras at this point. "Film isn't dead, but it's becoming less of a choice," he says. "It's a number of factors all moving in one direction, an inexorable march of digital progress that may be driven more by cell phones and consumer cameras than the motion picture industry."

Aaton founder Jean-Pierre Beauviala notes why. "Almost nobody is buying new film cameras. Why buy a new one when there are so many used cameras around the world?" he says. "We wouldn't survive in the film industry if we were not designing a digital camera."

Beauviala believes that that stereoscopic 3D has "accelerated the demise of film." He says, "It's a nightmare to synchronize two film cameras." Three years ago, Aaton introduced a new 35mm film camera, Penelope, but sold only 50 to 60 of them. As a result, Beauviala turned to creating a digital Penelope, which will be on the market by NAB 2012. "It's a 4K camera and very, very quiet," he tells us. "We tried to give a digital camera the same ease of handling as the film camera."

Panavision is also hard at work on a new digital camera, says Phil Radin, Executive VP, Worldwide Marketing, who notes that Panavision built its last 35mm Millennium XL camera in the winter of 2009, although the company continues an "active program of upgrading and retrofitting of our 35mm camera fleet on a ongoing basis."

"I would have to say that the pulse [of film] was weakened and it's an appropriate time," Radin remarks. "We are not making film cameras." He notes that the creative industry is reveling in the choices available. "I believe people in the industry love the idea of having all these various formats available to them," he says. "We have shows shooting with RED Epics, ARRI Alexas, Panavision Genesis and even the older Sony F-900 cameras. We also have shows shooting 35mm and a combination of 35mm and 65mm. It's a potpourri of imaging tools now available that have never existed before, and an exciting time for cinematographers who like the idea of having a lot of tools at their disposal to create different tools and looks."

Do camera manufacturers believe film will disappear? "Eventually it will," says ARRI's Russell. "In two or three years, it could be 85 percent digital and 15 percent film. But the date of the complete disappearance of film? No one knows."

From Radin's point of view, the question of when film will die, "Can only be answered by Kodak and Fuji. Film will be around as long as Kodak and Fuji believe they can make money at it," he says.


FILM PRINTS GO UP IN SMOKE
Neither Kodak nor Fuji have made noises about the end of film stock manufacture, but there are plenty of signs that making film stock has become ever less profitable. The need for film release prints has plummeted in the last year and, in an unprecedented move, Deluxe Entertainment Services Group and Technicolor--both of which have been in the film business for nearly 100 years--essentially divvied up the dwindling business of film printing and distribution.

Couched in legalese of mutual "subcontracting" deals, the bottom line is that Deluxe will now handle all of Technicolor's 35mm bulk release print distribution business in North America. Technicolor, meanwhile, will handle Deluxe's 35mm print distribution business in the U.S. and Deluxe's 35mm/16mm color negative processing business in London, as well as film printing in Thailand. In the wake of these agreements, Technicolor shut its North Hollywood and Montreal film labs and moved its 65mm/70mm print business to its Glendale, California, facility; and Deluxe ended its 35mm/16mm negative processing service at two facilities in the U.K.


"It's a stunning development," says International Cinematographer Guild President Steven Poster, ASC. "We've been waiting for it as far back as 2001. I think we've reached a kind of tipping point on the acquisition side and, now, there's a tipping point on the exhibition side."

"From the lab side, obviously film as a distribution medium is changing from the physical print world to file-based delivery and Digital Cinema," says Deluxe Digital Media Executive VP/General Manager Gray Ainsworth. "The big factories are absolutely in decline. Part of the planning for this has been significant investments and acquisitions to bolster the non-photochemical lab part of our business. We're developing ourselves to be content stewards, from the beginning with on-set solutions all the way downstream to distribution and archiving." Deluxe did exactly that with the 2010 purchase of the Ascent Media post production conglomerate.

Technicolor has also been busy expanding into other areas of the motion picture/TV business, with the purchase of Hollywood post house LaserPacific and a franchise licensing agreement with PostWorks New York. Technicolor also acquired Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp., expanding their North America footprint in Digital Cinema connectivity to 90 percent. "We have been planning our transition from film to digital, which is why you see our increased investments and clear growth in visual effects and animation, and 2D-to-3D conversion," says Technicolor's Ouri. "We know one day film won't be around. We continue to invest meaningfully in digital and R&D."

DIGITAL: AN "OVERNIGHT SUCCESS"
Although recent events--the end of film camera manufacturing and the swan dive of the film distribution business--makes it appear that digital is an overnight success, nothing could be further from the truth. Digital first arrived with the advent of computer-based editing systems more than 20 years ago, and industry people immediately began talking about the death of film. "The first time I heard film was dead was in 1972 at a TV station with videotape," says Poster, ASC. "He said, give it a year or two."

Videotape did overtake film in the TV station, but, in the early 1990s, with the first stirrings of High Definition video, the "film is dead" mantra arose again. Laurence Thorpe, who was involved in the early days of HD cameras at Sony, recalls the drumbeat. "In the 1990s, there were a lot of folks saying that digital has come a long way and seems to be unstoppable," he says.

The portion of the film ecosystem that has managed the most complete transition to digital is post-production. According to Technicolor Chief Marketing Officer Ouri, over 90 percent of films are finished with digital intermediates.

But the path to digital domination has also taken place in a world of Hollywood politics and economics. A near-strike by Screen Actors Guild actors, the Japanese tsunami and dramatic changes in the business of theater exhibition have all contributed to the ebbing fortunes of film. Under pressure, any weakness or break in the disciplines that form the art and science of film--from film schools to film laboratories--could spell the final demise of a medium that has endured and thrived for over 100 years.


THREE STRIKES AND YOU'RE OUT?
Until 2008, the bulk of TV productions and all feature films took place under SAG jurisdiction, which covers actors in filmed productions. In the months leading up to the Screen Actor Guild's 2008 contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, SAG leadership balked on several elements, including the new media provisions of the proposed contract. Negotiations stalemated. Not so with AFTRA, the union that covers actors in videotaped (including HD) productions, which inked its own separate agreement with AMPTP.

"When producers realized they could go with AFTRA contracts, but they now had to record digitally, they switched almost overnight," recalls Poster. Whereas, in previous seasons, 90 percent of the TV pilots were filmed, and under SAG jurisdiction, in one fell swoop the 2009 pilot season went digital video, capturing 90 percent of the pilots. In a single season, the use of film in primetime TV nearly completely vanished, never to return.

The Japanese tsunami on March 11, 2011, further pushed TV production into the digital realm. Up until then, TV productions were largely mastered to Sony's high-resolution HD SR tape, but the sole plant that made the tape, located in the northern city of Sendai, was heavily damaged and ceased operation for several months. With only two weeks worth of tape still available, TV producers scrambled to come up with a workaround, leading at least some of them to switch to a tapeless delivery, another step into the future of an all-digital ecosystem.

The third, and perhaps most devastating blow to film, comes from the increased penetration of Digital Cinema. According to Patrick Corcoran, National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) Director of Media & Research/California Operations Chief, at the end of July 2011, "We passed the 50 percent mark in terms of digital screens in the U.S. We've been adding screens at a fast clip this year, 700 to 750 a month," he says.

He notes that the turning point was the creation of the virtual print fee, which allows NATO members to recoup the investment they have to make to upgrade to digital cinema. (Studios, meanwhile, save $1 billion a year for the costs of making and shipping release prints.)

To take advantage of the virtual print fee, theater owners will have to transition screens to digital by the beginning of 2013. "Sometime, in 2013, all the screens will be digital," says Corcoran. "As the number of digital screens increase, it won't make economic sense for the studios to make and ship film prints. It'll be absolutely necessary to switch to Digital Cinema to survive."

REINVENTING THE FILM LAB


Can the continued production of film stock survive the twin disappearance of film acquisition and distribution? Veteran industry executive Rob Hummel, currently president of Group 47, recalls when, as head of production operations, he was negotiating the Kodak deal for DreamWorks Studios. "At the time, the Kodak representative told me that motion pictures was 6 percent of their worldwide capacity and 7 percent of their revenues," he recalls. "The rest was snapshots. In 2008 motion pictures was 92 percent of their business and the actual volume hasn't grown. The other business has just disappeared."

Eastman Kodak, Chris Johnson, Director of New Business Development, Entertainment Imaging, counters that "I don't see a time when Kodak stops making film stock," noting the year-on-year growth in 65mm film and popularity of Super 8mm. "We still make billions of linear feet of film," he says. "Over the horizon as far as we can see, we'll be making billions of feet of film."

Yet, as Johnson's title indicates, Kodak is hedging its bets by looking for new areas of growth. One focus is on digital asset management via leveraging its Pro-Tek Vaults for digital, says Johnson, and another is investigating "asset protection film," a less expensive film medium that provides a 50 to 100 year longevity at a lower price point that B&W separation film.

Kodak has also developed a laser-based 3D digital cinema projector. "Our system will give much brighter 3D images because we're using lasers for the light source," says Johnson. "And the costs of long-term ownership is much less expensive because the lasers last longer than the light sources for other projectors."


STORING FOR THE FUTURE

As more than 1 million feet of un-transferred nitrate film worldwide demonstrates, archiving doesn't get top billing in Hollywood. Although the value of archived material is unarguable, positioned at the end of the life cycle of a production, archivists have unfortunately had a relatively weak voice in the discussion over transitioning from film to digital.

Since the "film is dead" debate began, archivists fought to keep elements on film, the only medium that has proven to last well over 100 years. "Most responsible archivists in the industry still believe today that, if you can at all do it, you should still stick it on celluloid and put it in a cold, dry place, because the last 100 years has been the story of nitrate and celluloid," says Deluxe's Ainsworth.

He jokes that if the world's best physicists brought a gizmo to an archivist that they said would hold film for 100 years, the archivist would say, "Fine, come back in 99 years." "With the plethora of digital files, formats and technologies--some of which still exist and some of which don't--we're running into problems with digital files made only five years ago," he adds.

At Sony Pictures Entertainment, Grover Crisp, Executive VP of Asset Management, Film Restoration and Digital Mastering, notes that "Although it's a new environment and everyone is feeling their way through, what's important is to not throw out the traditional sensibilities of what preservation is and means.

"We still make B&W separations on our productions, now directly from the data," he says. "That's been going on for decades and has not stopped. Eventually it will be all digital, somewhere down the road, but following a strict conservation approach certainly makes sense."

Crisp pushes for a dual, hybrid approach. "You need to make sure you're preserving your data as data and your film as film," he says. "And since there's a crossover, you need to do both." LTO tape, currently the digital storage medium of choice, is backwards compatible only two generations, which means that careful migration is a fact of life--for now at least--in a digital age. "The danger of losing media is especially high for documentaries and indie productions," says Crisp.


Hummel and his partners at Group 47, meanwhile, believe they have the solution. His company bought the patents for a digital archival medium developed by Kodak: Digital Optical Tape System (DOTS). "It's a metal alloy system that requires no more storage than a book on a shelf," says Hummel, who reports that Carnegie Mellon University did accelerated life testing to 97 years.


THE DEATH OF FILM REDUX
"Though reports of its imminent death have been exaggerated, more industry observers than before accept the end of film. "In 100 years, yes," says AbelCine's Shore. "In ten years, I think we'll still have film cameras. So somewhere between 10 and 100 years."

Film camera manufacturers have walked a tightrope, ceasing unprofitable manufacture of film cameras at the same time that they continue to serve the film market by making cameras on demand and upgrading existing ones. But they--as well as film labs and film stock manufacturers--clearly see the future as digital and are acting accordingly.

Will film die? Seen in one way, it never will: our cinematic history exists on celluloid and as long as there are viable film cameras and film, someone will be shooting it. Seen another way, film is already dead...what we see today is the after-life of a medium that has become increasingly marginalized in production and distribution of films and TV. Just as the last film camera was sold without headlines or fireworks, the end of film as a significant production and distribution medium will, one day soon, arrive, without fanfare.

I Love Lucy 8mm footage

Color 8mm film of I Love Lucy, shot from the audience, mixed in with actual footage from the show.

Primer on Film and Digital Capture

In this video, Rob Hummel (previously of Sony and Dalsa), explains the technical differences between capturing images on film and capturing images on digital. It's pretty amazing to watch, and there's some information that may make some one who is thinking digital think twice. Of course, some people have attached themselves onto digital like a barnacal on the side of a ship, never letting go, as have people with film, but the science shows evidence that film is still the best capture medium available today.

Little Fox

Over the last two weeks, or so, I've started to get more serious about a project I mentioned last year called Little Fox. I have finished the initial outline of it, and will type it up and start fleshing it out more in the coming weeks. I have started collecting bits and pieces for it already, props and wardrobe, and will continue to do so over the next couple of months, as well as purchase film for it. I'm going to shoot on Ektachrome 100D Super 8. I was, originally, going to shoot on 16mm, but have decided to go with Super 8 for this project, since it will be a longer piece (15-20 minutes), and since there are so many extras for it that I will be investing money into (props, wardrobe, etc.). I'm really excited to be moving forward with this, as it is the first thing I've done since PHX.

Indefinable Orbits

This is the film I've been gathering shots for over about a two year time span. It's finally finished. It's uploaded to Vimeo in 1080p, so, hit the little Vimeo button on the movie, and it will take you there, and you can see it full size.

PHX Blog - How Telecine destroyed my chance of shooting film

My number one goal in my "professional" filmmaking career has been to shoot everything I could on film. Let's be honest with each other, film will not always be around. It has another ten to twenty years before the monster that is digital will probably swallow it up. Don't get me wrong, I would like to see film around for, at least, the rest of my lifetime, if not beyond. There is something truly magical about it, and that is why I desperately wanted to shoot PHX on film, more specifically Super 8 Ektachrome 100D and Vision 2 200T. So why couldn't I? Well, with the budget I have, affording the film was no problem. The developing wasn't really an issue either, as it would be about the same cost. What killed it? Telecine.

For those of you that are somewhat unfamiliar with what Telecine is, it's actually quite simple. A Telecine machine scans each frame of film, and converts it to a digital video signal to be put onto tape or hard drive in order to edit on a computer. Most telecines are now HD capable, but there are very few that are capable of doing Super 8 in HD. After having called this handful of places and talking to folks at each one, and getting transfer rates and attempting to talk people down (quite unsuccessfully), I realized that the dream of doing this project, with the money available, was over.

The breakdown was simple - The industry standard rate for Super 8 transfer seems to be 3:1, which means for every hour of film you have, you are charged for three hours of Telecine. Now, most places that run standard definition (SD) Telecine's, will give you a 1.5:1 transfer, especially if they just throw it up on the machine and let it go (no color correction at all), but I couldn't get any of the places I called to give me a break, except one - Frame Discreet, in Canada. Unfortunately, though, the break they ultimately were willing to give me was still a little too expensive for the budget. Can you imagine if my only choice was some of these other guys? Figure, roughly, eight hours of footage, at 3:1, and a rate of 300 dollars an hour. Got your number? Needless to say, that's more than the whole budget of my film.

It was a tough decision to make, but, in the end, I had to go HD. We just don't have enough money, or time to go back and reshoot anything that might get messed up, to shoot on film. It's unfortunate, and I hate it, but, it's what's best for the project. Maybe if this one does good, we can do film for the next one.

Matthew Weiner, creator of Mad Men, discusses shooting the series on film

QUESTION: Why did you want to produce Mad Men on film?
WEINER: It's the aesthetics. I've now come to realize, and I think that they proved this technologically, that a sampling of the world that goes on in film at 24 frames per second has been perfected to produce a lifelike experience, the way that you would see it with your eyes. There's nothing that competes with it. I can tell the difference, and until I can't tell the difference (between film and video), I will stay with film. Also, I don't think the great cinematographers are comfortable working with video. They don't get the looks and blacks they want. There is rigidness to working in video, maybe because it doesn't have the chemical elements. It's just not the same thing. When I shot my $10,000 movie, I shot it on (KODAK) Plus-X and Tri-X 16 mm film. Working with film made a huge difference.

New Film - Matt

This is my new film, Matt. It's a sort of moving portrait of an old friend of mine who I was able to visit with while going home for a friends wedding. Shot on Tri-X Super 8. Music by Tchaikovsky. Hope you like it, and please feel free to leave feedback - 

Matt from Stewart Schuster on Vimeo.

Travelogue, Nashville

Travelogue, Nashville from Stewart Schuster on Vimeo.

With/Without

My final film for Watkins is now online. You can watch it below. Although it has flaws that time has allowed me to see, I am still very proud of it, and hope to make more like it. I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who was involved with the making of this film. I just wish I could have been in a place to put it in festivals, but, unfortunately, by the time it was finished, and by the time I was in a place financially to do so, it was too late. Enjoy - 

With/Without from Stewart Schuster on Vimeo.

A fool for the "artsy" way

I've always liked the idea of doing smaller, experimental films, but have yet to actually make one. I realized, today, why I haven't yet - I don't thrive in the kind of improvisational environment that a lot of these films are made in. I would rather not make a film, than just go out with a camera and an actor and try to come up with something (hoping that its good).

I've been more excited, in the last few days, about filmmaking than I have been in a long time. Do you know why? Planning. Dare I even say it, Pre-Production (a very bad word in my world). I've been talking about making Indefinable Orbits, a Brakhage style short film, for months now. While money has been a factor in getting it done, it eventually came to be that I just wasn't getting it done for no particular reason. Yesterday, though, I sat down with the script/outline/notes, and made out a shot list. Suddenly, I feel like I'm light years closer to seeing this happen. It seems real. It seems do-able. I'm excited again.

I grabbed a hundred foot load of 50D out of the fridge yesterday, and have been thawing it (you should always thaw film for 24 hours before shooting on it). I'm going to start shooting some of the stuff after next week (when all of the grant stuff is on its way to AFS). Who knows, a cut of it might show up in the next month or two. 

Don't take that statement the wrong way, though, that's not a promise...

Pure Moments

Today has been great, so far. I went to see Julian Schnabel's film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (which was AMAZING, review to come soon), and when I got home, my Bolex test footage was waiting for me. I can't express how awesome it was for me, personally to open up the little black box, pull out the spool, thread up the projector, and see the footage that I shot come to life before my very eyes. I mean, it was just test footage, basically stuff I shot in and around my parents house, but still... I can't wait to get started on Indefinable Orbits now.

She... She screams in silence...

That line, from an old Green Day song, gave me an idea this morning. One that may be another film to make with my Bolex.

I sent off my Plus-X test roll last week, and I should be getting it back this week, along with a couple of cartridges of Vision 2 Super 8 film for Steve's wedding (nothing but the best for the Crawford clan!). I'm looking forward to see how the Plus-X turned out, and, if everything is cool, it will be time to start shooting on Indefinable Orbits.

I'm piecing together ideas for Raccoon Head right now, which I am hoping to shoot on and off over the next year/year and a half. I'm trying to make it a comedy, but, it feels like it keeps pushing more towards drama. Since I don't have a script draft, I guess I shouldn't worry too much about it, for now. We'll let it be what it is.

I watched the commentary for Linklater's You Can't Learn To Plow By Reading A Book, and it really got me psyched up to do The Definers on Super 8. I want to take a chance and make the film EXACTLY how I want to make it (of course, sans the professional actors, which I can't afford). But after having listened to Linklater talking about just going out and doing it, and experimenting, and telling the story you want to tell, how you want to tell it, everyone else be damned, it really got me hyped up. I'm gonna take the chance. It's time to start finalizing the script, and do the pre-production on it.

Also, I've made it my goal to finish With/Without and submit it to festivals for the upcoming season. It deserves to have a chance to live outside of the Watkins student screening and a couple of DVD's with rough cuts on them. I've put in the final sound effects that it was missing, and am re-doing the credits, and... I think that's it. It will be ready to go. 

Wish me luck with everything.