Film vs. Digital Notes

Film vs. Digital

  • Film:
    • Chemical and mechanical; a physical object; analog.
    • Made of light-sensitive particles on a backing (originally nitrate, then celluloid).
    • Light exposure changes the color of particles, fixed with chemicals.
    • Two types: negative (most common) and reversal (for home movies, more vivid colors).
    • Sizes: 8mm (home movies), 16mm (student films, documentaries), 35mm (feature films), 70mm (big productions).
    • Major manufacturers: Kodak, Fuji, Agfa.
    • Film came in reels, typically 11 minutes long.
    • Significant expense: film stock and processing.
  • Digital:
    • Uses digits (zeros and ones); fundamentally information, not an object.
    • Alan Turing: important inventor of computer technology.
    • Digital video emerged in the 1990s.
    • Digital video cameras use a sensor (CCD) to convert light into an electronic impulse, encoded as information.
    • Storage format: SSD card, data card, or internal hard drive.

Digital Resolutions

  • Standard Definition (SD) transitioned from analog video (television).
  • NTSC (National Television Standards Committee): settled on a format for American television.
  • High Definition (HD): 1080 \times 1920 (vertical\timeshorizontal pixels).
  • 2K: Approximately 2000 pixels vertically. Is closer to 1920 \times 1080.
  • 4K: Roughly double the resolution of 2K.
  • Increasing resolution dramatically increases the surface area.
  • Higher resolutions useful for punching in and reframing.
    *Blackmagic has a new camera out that's 17 k.

Digital vs. Film Aesthetics

  • Early digital movies (late 1990s-early 2000s) had poor color saturation and resolution.
  • Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino still shoot on film.
  • Digital is cheaper to shoot but not necessarily better-looking.
  • IMAX negative (analog) can have better resolution than HD.
  • Digital can look hyper-crisp, which some audiences dislike.
  • Digital can shoot at high frame rates, lacking motion blur.
  • Traditional film has grain and blur that some viewers prefer.
  • Early digital productions used filters to simulate film's organic look.
    *Lord of the Rings was one of the first films to use a digital intermediate.

Digital Problems

  • Perfect copies create piracy issues.
  • Music business decimated by digital piracy.
  • Streaming services may delist owned movies.
  • Digital requires tracking vast numbers of pixels per frame.
  • High Definition: 372,874,752 separate numbers tracked per second.

Analog Video

  • Light hits CCD, turns into electronic impulse, recorded onto magnetic tape.
  • Analog video dates back to the 1930s.
  • NTSC (American format): 480 lines (720 x 480).
  • CRT (cathode ray tube) TVs render lines with an electron gun.
  • Interlaced video: odd and even numbered lines rendered separately.
  • PAL (English system): 625 lines, lower frame rate.
  • American frame rate: 30 frames per second (related to 60 Hz electrical system).
  • Film frame rate: 24 frames per second.

Presentation Guidelines

  • 15-minute limit.
  • Address business aspects (production, company, budget, success).
  • Discuss direction (director's intent, style).
  • Analyze casting and performance.
  • Examine writing (screenplay, process).
  • Assess cinematography (cameras, lighting, film stock).
  • Evaluate production design (sets, props, costumes).
  • Cover special effects (practical or digital).
  • Analyze editing.
  • Discuss sound design and music score.
  • Consider makeup and hair design.
  • Include plot summary.
  • May show clips up to 3 minutes total.
  • Bring PowerPoint on a flash drive.
  • Turn it in on Canvas as a PDF.