Digital Film

I made a short documentary about building a digital camera. This documentary was obviously shot with another digital camera, but was edited to look like a film camera. The film was meant to be a commentary on the value of both the old and new way to make film. People may think film is old and outdated, but I disagree. Its usefulness is clear in its depiction of the new method in my film. Using film still holds value because it still accomplishes the ultimate objective of movies in the first place, to tell stories. Film, no matter how old the method, exists to tell stories and make worlds.

There may be new toys and tricks, but principals are the same. I can use a camera that makes a faded and scratched image, but it can tell the same story. I filmed myself building a new camera to show the harmony between the old and new. It is never about which is better, it is about which one is needed to say what the artist wants to say. In this case, I used “film” to say that film can tell a story just as well as digital. Using this method of filmmaking in a specific way is used to say something specific. It isn’t just being used to say it looks like film, this element is being used specifically to enhance my point.

            I feel like Quinten Tarantino was a big inspiration for why I made this film. Tarantino is someone who uses film for the sake of using it. He refuses to use digital because he feels it is not actually a form of filmmaking. My film showed both the old and the new methods working in harmony to make something that shows the value of both digital and film. Every form has value and it is important to explore everything. Refusing a medium or method of creation only limits the artist. Limiting yourself in this way is dangerous because it may prevent said artist from making the statement they want to make.

            The readings were a bit of an inspiration for this project as well. The comic book reading defended the idea that comic books were a form of valuable literature. I took the idea of defending a medium or method and used it to defend the idea that any type of filmmaking is good filmmaking. It doesn’t have to be on film to be a film. At the same time, it doesn’t have to be a digital image to look beautiful.