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Epic vs Film - the Decisive Battle is looming

Tom Lowe

Tom Lowe

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I have never engaged in any specific predictions about a timeline for when digital will displace chemical film. You can go back to AC articles from the 1980s and find people making bold predictions like this, all of which look foolish in hindsight.

But I will go out on a limb and predict that Epic will engage in - and win - a decisive battle against cinema chemical film in 2010. Epic will obviously be aided by next-gen digital cinema cameras from Sony, Panavision, Arri, Panasonic, etc. Not to mention Red One, Genesis, etc.

This means that by the end of 2010, more major studio pictures will be shooting digitally than on film.

"Opportunities multiply as they are seized."

- Sun Tzu
 
Honestly, I think there are just two small hurtles left and those are

1: a couple more stops of dynamic range
and
2: rolling shutter issues
 
Dynamic range did not stop DSLRs from overtaking SLRs.
 
Peter Majtan said:
For the last issue standing (the million dollar question) is the archiving of the "digital negatives". The only feasible solution for now are magnetic tapes with shelf life between 10~25 years...
Click to expand...

I know, make a film print!

-Thor
 
Actually, how about storing zeros and ones on microfilm?

-Thor
 
the funny thing about film is.. if you take a still you will notice how shitty it is.. but in motion it looks flawless.. almost grainless. red is quite the opposite.. you take a still.. it looks flawless.. you run it in motion starting from asa 320 .. you will notice the noise and the flaws.

you will notice the flaws in the clipping skies.. you will notice the flaws in hard light. you will notice the flaws in the leaves.

the extra 2 and a half - 3 stops of dr do make a difference. the noise makes a difference. compression artifacts make a difference.

but honestly.. so far... red is kicking ass.
 
Tom said:
You can go back to AC articles from the 1980s and find people making bold predictions like this, all of which look foolish in hindsight.

This means that by the end of 2010, more major studio pictures will be shooting digitally than on film.
Click to expand...


Hi Tom,

Film is dead was first published over 50 years ago, 30 years before those articles in AC.....

When do you think EPIC will be out of beta?

Stephen
 
Stephen Williams said:
Hi Tom,

Film is dead was first published over 50 years ago, 30 years before those articles in AC.....

When do you think EPIC will be out of beta?

Stephen
Click to expand...

Hopefully in time to make my prediction come true, so I don't look like a fool. :)
 
If you keep predicting the death of film, eventually you'll be right.

Of course, how many people here predicted that the RED ONE would kill film? It seems every new camera that comes out will be the film killer... until the next one comes out...

I remember someone on DV.Com predicting that the DVX100 would kill film -- and then he said that the Canon XL2 would -- and then he said that the Varicam would kill film. He also said that 2001 was the year every household would buy HDTV sets. Then he said it would be 2002. Then he said it would be 2003.

Eventually he's bound to make an accurate prediction. He only has to be right once, no one is going to remember the fifty times he was wrong.
 
film is already dead to many

film is already dead to many

David Mullen ASC said:
I remember someone on DV.Com predicting that the DVX100 would kill film -- and then he said that the Canon XL2 would -- and then he said that the Varicam would kill film.
Click to expand...

it's about the perspective of the user. if you look at all the micro-budget and even some low budget "films" made in the past 5 years, film was dead...for them. the dvx100 did kill film for many filmmakers...of course they probably still wouldn't have shot film anyway but that would also mean they probably wouldn't have gotten any project off the ground if it wasn't for digital acquisition of some sort. if you have the means to shoot/afford 35mm production, you probably won't think film is dead or will die anytime soon and you also probably won't care. if you're on the fence and straddle the micro/low budget world like myself, the film is dead argument is almost academic because i began caring years ago right after i made my first feature (s16) and began dreaming of a better way.
 
taking the massive delays into account a fully operating epic is 2 years and more ahead. but what I totally don`t understand is: why the hell do they announce the "monstro" sensor when "mysteriumX" is not even at the horizon?
 
David Mullen ASC said:
If you keep predicting the death of film, eventually you'll be right.

Of course, how many people here predicted that the RED ONE would kill film? It seems every new camera that comes out will be the film killer... until the next one comes out...

I remember someone on DV.Com predicting that the DVX100 would kill film -- and then he said that the Canon XL2 would -- and then he said that the Varicam would kill film. He also said that 2001 was the year every household would buy HDTV sets. Then he said it would be 2002. Then he said it would be 2003.

Eventually he's bound to make an accurate prediction. He only has to be right once, no one is going to remember the fifty times he was wrong.
Click to expand...

You are so right about remembering only right predictions. This is why so called psychics continue to scam the gullible.
 
Tom said:
I have never engaged in any specific predictions about a timeline for when digital will displace chemical film. You can go back to AC articles from the 1980s and find people making bold predictions like this, all of which look foolish in hindsight.

But I will go out on a limb and predict that Epic will engage in - and win - a decisive battle against cinema chemical film in 2010. Epic will obviously be aided by next-gen digital cinema cameras from Sony, Panavision, Arri, Panasonic, etc. Not to mention Red One, Genesis, etc.

This means that by the end of 2010, more major studio pictures will be shooting digitally than on film.

"Opportunities multiply as they are seized."

- Sun Tzu
Click to expand...
I love film and I also hate the whole film vs digital debate. But the truth is out there.

In 15-20 years there will be a whole new generation of 'film' makers who would have never shot on celluloid just like many of today's generation of still photographers who haven't shot on 'film'.

Long live Film. Long live Digital. Long live story tellers.
 
Please guys, don't kill film :waaa:... just remove its monopoly.

I personally don't have a problem with film aesthetically.

The main problem is price.

And the complexity of the workflow - cans, labs, processing, telecine, filmouts...

RED is really close, but film still has its advantages.

I can't explain why.

Maybe it's the many layers inside [for color]... maybe it's the extra latitude... or that silver stuff... or the combination of all these... dunno.

But film has its thing... which, on the other hand, seems impossibly expensive.

I think digital will ultimately win when sensors start physically acquiring the image the way film does. FoveonX3 and such. :ph34r:

Anyway, I'd like film to stay as a niche. If I could afford it, I would use film... as long as its fitting the story.

Story rules.
 
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