Digital Filmmaking

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Digital Filmmaking: Changing the Industry

Digital filmmaking isn't just for low budget indie movies anymore. Recent years have seen major Hollywood productions embracing digital filmmaking practices (think Superman Returns and Zodiac). Is digital technology making 35mm film obsolete? For now, at least, the answer is no, but it's certainly one of the most exciting and revolutionary opportunities in filmmaking today.

Advantages of Digital Filmmaking

What's so great about digital filmmaking? Even those who don't go gaga for cutting-edge technology should be able to recognize that digital filmmaking presents some amazing opportunities in the film industry. Consider the following:

Digital filmmaking is accessible. Relatively low cost and user friendly, digital recording equipment is the personal computer of the film industry. That means talented filmmakers don't need the backing of Hollywood heavyweights to produce their films. While this could be seen as a threat to the establishment, these new voices in film can also inspire others and bring new energy to the film industry. A little healthy competition can be a good thing.

Editing is simple. Like digital recording equipment, editing equipment for digital film is affordable and also easy to master. Make an edit, or undo it with relative ease. Postproduction can be less cumbersome in the digital world. If someone with no training in digital film editing can do a reasonable job on their iMac, imagine what someone with a digital filmmaking degree could do. The possibilities are exciting and endless.

Digital distribution reaches a wide audience. You no longer need a big marketing budget to reach a wide audience. Today, your movie could take off on YouTube. It could be available on iPods and cell phones. Digitally formatted films aren't bound to traditional distribution methods. Having a box office smash isn't necessary to gain notoriety. A little success could open big doors for your film career.

Challenges of Digital Filmmaking

Before kissing the traditional filmmaking techniques and equipment goodbye, it's important to understand that digital filmmaking isn't all upside. Digital filmmakers face some unique and unexpected challenges.

Long-term storage is problematic for digital films. While film gets a bad rap for degrading over the years, according to a recent article in Variety , digital film actually presents a much larger problem when it comes to long-term storage. While the millions of DVDs out in commercial circulation seem permanent enough (at least until they get scratched), the original digital data files can degrade in a few short years—or even months.

In addition to this, methods of storage can change quickly, presenting another layer of complication. The way digital films are stored today may be the equivalent of an eight-track in the audio world tomorrow. When technology changes, someone will need to migrate the footage. This task will only get bigger as digital filmmaking becomes more widespread. It will take time and money to maintain digital films for posterity.

It will take creativity and innovation to find solutions as digital technology goes mainstream. So far, the best solution to these problems is to convert digital files to film.

Advancing the Film Industry

Digital filmmaking is relatively young. As it matures, some of the challenges may be resolved. For now, however, it is enough to say that while digital isn't replacing film, it's adding a whole new dimension of possibility to the film industry. And that makes digital filmmaking an exciting career worth pursuing.

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