Re: [Frameworks] Film and Digital for beginners
Hi Jonathan, One technical difference people don't often mention is sensitivity curves. Film has a logarythmic, S-shaped curve, to capture information across 12 f-stops. For example, on film, a sunny scene on a bridge with action in the sun and also in the shadows under the bridge, all will be captured on the negative which has great latitude. Video formats are linear, the curve is straight, and you will have to shoot for the lights or for the darks - I think the spread is about 3 f-stops. Newer high-end video cameras like the Red can shoot in log, like film, but all video projection devices are linear, so either the image is compressed for projection, or the information can be put back out onto film. Even on the best and biggest 4K projection system, one can see burned out whites and muddy blacks because there is no information in those regions. Someday the corporations that push new technology on us every two years in order to stay profitable will force every movie theatre in the world to buy logarythmic projectors and we will all have to remaster our films (for the fifth time) on 12bitlog. Another difference is flicker. Remember that film and video both are only slide shows - each frame on the screen is static, unlike reality which is always in motion. Seeing a film on a film projector with a shutter creates a psychophysical experience called the phi phenomenon which induces the illusion of motion. For a video projection, the illusion of motion is created by a different brain phenomenon called the beta effect. The difference between these two experiences in the brain is so completely fundamental yet is always overlooked when comparing the two technologies (continuous versus discrete stimulation). In film, the apparent motion occurs only during the fraction of a second when the screen is black - the brain fills in the gap, building a bridge from frame to frame, in the darkness, much as our brain creates dreams during the blackness of night between two days. Beta effect happens in the retina, the brain participates less in the process of observation. One could be bold and say film wakes us up while video puts us to sleep. But in the end I think the difference is not about what it looks like, but rather about what it is. We use the word image flippantly. Is a painting an image? Students may think they've scene the Mona Lisa or a Kubrick film because they've seen them online, but a painting has weight and texture, a film has grain and material, and that is what we are seeing - not just the image of it. -Pip Chodorov At 16:42 -0400 13/07/12, Jonathan Walley wrote: SO NOW, THE QUESTION: what would you say are some of the most important, and most fundamental, differences between making and/or seeing films in these two media, in terms that intro-level undergrads can understand and appreciate. ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
[Frameworks] Standard 8 Splicers
Hi all, I'm on the hunt for a good standard 8 splicer as I'm getting set to start offering a R8 service for 100D and possibly a BW reversal service as well. Tape splicers preferable but all recommendations welcome! If anyone has one for sale I'm interested. All the bestKevin ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Re: [Frameworks] Film and Digital for beginners
Hi Jonathan, one important aspect is that in film, the smallest unit one can modify is the frame, while in digital video the smallest unit is the pixel. cheers Bernd Am 13.07.2012 um 22:42 schrieb Jonathan Walley: Hello everyone, This question isn't about experimental cinema specifically, but it's certainly an important question for our world, and I think experimental filmmakers (and scholars, critics, etc.) are among those best equipped to answer it. So here goes. There is some preamble meant to set the stage, but you can skim it and skip down to the question if you want. Each semester I teach an introductory cinema studies course called Film Aesthetics and Analysis. The main goal of the course is to teach students how to analyze film aesthetics (in case the title of the class didn't make this obvious), and it is aimed at the general campus community, not just Cinema majors. Indeed, the majority of students in the class are non-majors who have never studied film before. Early in the course I talk about filmmaking on a very material level - call it the nuts and bolts of filmmaking, a subject I return to periodically across the semester (e.g. how cameras work, the process of editing, projection, etc.). I have always privileged film - that is, analogue, photochemical, mechanical, celluloid film - but to keep up with the times I have been trying to talk more about digital cinema technology, with a view to contrasting the two media. Though I'm a luddite when it comes to film, I'm not necessarily interested in converting my students to that mindset, nor to favoring one medium over another. I simply want my students to understand the ramifications of shooting, editing, projecting, and viewing films on different media. SO NOW, THE QUESTION: what would you say are some of the most important, and most fundamental, differences between making and/or seeing films in these two media, in terms that intro-level undergrads can understand and appreciate. For example: -true black is not possible in digital projection the same way it is in film projection (something I can actually demonstrate in class). -differences in resolution. -different lifespans of film and digital. And so on and so forth. Though I do talk about things outside the realm of film aesthetics specifically (such as the cost of digital conversion, preservation issues, etc.), my main interest is in showing my students the concrete, appreciable consequences that attend the decision to do something in film or in digital. And to be able to demonstrate them in class with specific examples - using the 16mm and digital projectors I have in the classroom - would be nice, so suggestions of such specific examples would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for any ideas. Best, Jonathan Jonathan Walley Dept. of Cinema Denison University ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks ___ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
[Frameworks] This week [July 14 - 22, 2012] in avant garde cinema
This week [July 14 - 22, 2012] in avant garde cinema To subscribe/unsubscribe to the weekly listing, go to http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/mailto.pl?mailto=subscribe or send an email to weeklylist...@hi-beam.net. Enter your announcements (calls for entries, new work, screenings, jobs, items for sale, etc.) at: http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl NEW FILM/VIDEO: NON-FEATURE: Terrormisu! by Angel Rose http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=newworkfreadfile=132.ann New Film/Video: feature: The Green Carnation by Angel Rose http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=newworkfreadfile=133.ann New Film/Video: feature: The Green Carnation by Angel Rose http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=newworkfreadfile=134.ann NEW CALLS FOR ENTRIES: = RiverRun International Film Festival (Winston Salem, NC, USA; Deadline: December 15, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1464.ann Last Vacancies 2012 Portugal Rural Artistic Residencies (Tondela, Portugal; Deadline: September 15, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1465.ann VIDEODRONE (London, UK; Deadline: July 30, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1466.ann DEADLINES APPROACHING: == BASEMENT MEDIA FEST (Brooklyn, NY, USA; Deadline: July 29, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1411.ann PollyGrind Underground Film Festival of Las Vegas (Las Vegas, NV, USA; Deadline: August 13, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1419.ann Space 1026 (Philadelphia, Pa; Deadline: July 22, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1444.ann FLEFF (Ithaca, NY, USA; Deadline: August 15, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1446.ann Then, what if? (Hartford CT USA; Deadline: August 01, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1451.ann Kuala Lumpur Experimental Film Video Festival 2012 (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Deadline: July 20, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1454.ann The Journal of Short Film Volume 28 (Columbus, Ohio, USA; Deadline: July 14, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1457.ann Ingenuity Fest (Cleveland, OH USA; Deadline: August 01, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1463.ann VIDEODRONE (London, UK; Deadline: July 30, 2012) http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/ann.pl?type=callsreadfile=1466.ann Enter your event announcements by going to the Flicker Weekly Listing Form at http://www.hi-beam.net/cgi-bin/thisweek.pl Also available online at Flicker: http://www.hi-beam.net THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMS (SUMMARY): == * L.A. Filmforum Presents Change of Life (Mudar De vida), Directed By Paulo Rocha [July 15, Los Angeles, California] * Film Ist. (7-12) [July 16, New York, New York] * Private Territory Film Tour: EinkasvÃÃI [July 19, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland] * Private Territory: Reykjavik [July 19, Reykjavik, Iceland] * Counter Balance : Live:Concert + Film:J.-M.Straub [July 20, New York, New York] * Cut Paste Program 1 [July 20, New York, New York] * Film Ist. (7-12) [July 20, New York, New York] * Soundings: Films By James Herbert [July 21, Chicago, Illinois] * Essential Cinema: Hollis Frampton Program [July 21, New York, New York] * Cut Paste Program 2 [July 21, New York, New York] * Soundings: Films By James Herbert [July 22, Chicago, Illinois] * L.A. Filmforum Presents GlóRia, Directed By Manuela viegas [July 22, Los Angeles, California] * Essential Cinema: Maya Deren Program [July 22, New York, New York] * Stratman Program 1 [July 22, New York, New York] * Stratman Program 2 [July 22, New York, New York] Events are sorted by CITY within each DATE. - SUNDAY, JULY 15, 2012 - 7/15 Los Angeles, California: Filmforum http://www.lafilmforum.org/ 7:30pm (box office opens 6:30, doors open 7), Spielberg Theatre at the Egyptian, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. L.A. FILMFORUM PRESENTS CHANGE OF LIFE (MUDAR DE VIDA), DIRECTED BY PAULO ROCHA CHANGE OF LIFE (Mudar de Vida) Directed by Paulo Rocha. With Geraldo del Rey, Isabel Ruth, Maria Barroso; Portugal, 1966, 35mm, b/w, 90 min. Portuguese with English subtitles. The second and arguably most important film by Paulo Rocha (b. 1935), one of the central figures of the Novo Cinema, Change of Life is a direct response to Oliveira's Rite of Spring (and, indirectly, to Varda's Pointe Courte) and an important precursor to the radical documentary-shaped fiction of Trás-os-Montes and, much later, the work of Pedro Costa and Miguel Gomes. Part of THE FILMS AND LEGACY OF ANTÓNIO REIS AND MARGARIDA CORDEIRO, presented in association with the UCLA Film Television Archive. Please note: The first three programs in this series will be presented by the UCLA Film
