"DARE TO BE CELLULOID IN A DIGITAL AGE: 21st CENTURY CELLULOID ARTISTS?"
THE LIFE OF FILM by Roger D. WilsonThere has been a lot of talk lately about the demise of film and film laboratories closing down and Kodak going bankrupt, I find it hard to believe that Kodak will ever close down; the company will just re-structure itself and re-define its focus. Now with all of this talk the question has come up: Why still use film. It’s interesting to see this question being asked about film when 10/15 years ago many film artists working with film were asking the same question about video. For years filmmakers used the comment: film just looks better then video and that’s why I choose to use it. Well I don’t believe this comment can be used any longer, video has come a long way and I would not be surprised to see someone who has used film for many years mistakenly pick out a production made on video and label it as a film
As a film artist my passion has never been just about the look of film, my passion has been for the medium of film itself and the process attached to it. Film artists are going to continue to use film because they have a passion for it and the process involved in making a film. I think it’s very much like someone who loves music and prefers to listen to vinyl records, or musicians who still release their songs on vinyl. For my birthday last year my son gave me Robbie Robertson’s new CD “How to become Clairvoyant”; now this CD is also available on vinyl. For Christmas my son bought me Bob Dylan’s “Bringing It All Back Home” on vinyl. I have played the vinyl record more then the CD and it’s not because I enjoy Bob Dylan over Robbie Robertson, I also own on vinyl Robbie Robertson’s “Fallen Angel” album, which I also listen to more then the CD. I choose to listen to the vinyl records over the CD because the process of listening to vinyl is more pleasing to me. I get more out of it and this is how I feel as an artist working with the medium of film.
A time will come where fewer artists are using film as a way of expressing ideas and stories, however with the artists who have this passion for film and the process will continue to use it and love it. I can not use video and it has nothing to do with the look of the medium. I grab a hold of film and I manipulate it, I twist it, shape it and mould it into an art form that can not be duplicated the same way with video. When labs stop creating film prints then filmmakers will create their own prints and when labs close down filmmakers will process their own film and if Kodak decides to stop making film, which I truly believe will never happen, but if it does, filmmakers will find a way to make it themselves. An art form will only die when we let it.
THE LIFE OF FILM by Roger D. WilsonThere has been a lot of talk lately about the demise of film and film laboratories closing down and Kodak going bankrupt, I find it hard to believe that Kodak will ever close down; the company will just re-structure itself and re-define its focus. Now with all of this talk the question has come up: Why still use film. It’s interesting to see this question being asked about film when 10/15 years ago many film artists working with film were asking the same question about video. For years filmmakers used the comment: film just looks better then video and that’s why I choose to use it. Well I don’t believe this comment can be used any longer, video has come a long way and I would not be surprised to see someone who has used film for many years mistakenly pick out a production made on video and label it as a film
As a film artist my passion has never been just about the look of film, my passion has been for the medium of film itself and the process attached to it. Film artists are going to continue to use film because they have a passion for it and the process involved in making a film. I think it’s very much like someone who loves music and prefers to listen to vinyl records, or musicians who still release their songs on vinyl. For my birthday last year my son gave me Robbie Robertson’s new CD “How to become Clairvoyant”; now this CD is also available on vinyl. For Christmas my son bought me Bob Dylan’s “Bringing It All Back Home” on vinyl. I have played the vinyl record more then the CD and it’s not because I enjoy Bob Dylan over Robbie Robertson, I also own on vinyl Robbie Robertson’s “Fallen Angel” album, which I also listen to more then the CD. I choose to listen to the vinyl records over the CD because the process of listening to vinyl is more pleasing to me. I get more out of it and this is how I feel as an artist working with the medium of film.
A time will come where fewer artists are using film as a way of expressing ideas and stories, however with the artists who have this passion for film and the process will continue to use it and love it. I can not use video and it has nothing to do with the look of the medium. I grab a hold of film and I manipulate it, I twist it, shape it and mould it into an art form that can not be duplicated the same way with video. When labs stop creating film prints then filmmakers will create their own prints and when labs close down filmmakers will process their own film and if Kodak decides to stop making film, which I truly believe will never happen, but if it does, filmmakers will find a way to make it themselves. An art form will only die when we let it.
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