by Matt Barone.

In February 2009, when Slumdog Millionaire took the Bets Picture prize at the Academy Awards ceremony, the filmmaking world, unbeknownst to casual moviegoers, officially entered a new, exciting, and in many ways threatening age. Like they did with the equally transitional 2002 horror gem 28 Days Later, Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle and his digitally forward-thinking cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle shot Slumdog solely using digital technology; when the film reigned supreme at the Hugh Jackman-hosted festivities in ’09, the once-frowned-upon alternative to the older photochemical film type formally received the most prestigious level of appreciation. And the movie industry will never be the same again.

One industry move-maker who’s been aware of the change is Keanu Reeves, the actor who’s slowly jumped behind the camera to wear a producer’s hat, which he did to help get the new documentary Side by Side made. Currently playing as part of NYC’s Tribeca Film Festival, and directed by Chris Kenneally, Side by Side provides an unprecedented amount of access into Hollywood’s inner workings, entertainingly breaking down how movies are exactly made while clearly and painstakingly articulating both sides of the digital-versus-film debate.

Read the rest of this article from Complex Pop Culture.

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by Bryce J. Renninger.

I never set out to make “Off Label” on four camera systems, but the technology was changing so rapidly that I ended up trying a lot of things out over the course of shooting it. It was shot on a Panasonic HVX-200, a Canon 5D and 7D, and the Panasonic AF-100. I always ask myself the same questions when faced with a new camera. What unique kind of image does it produce that I can best exploit, and how easily can I disappear into the room with it?

A camera really alters my physical and psychological relationship to the world when I’m using it. It makes me behave and interact with subjects differently, yielding different results, so choosing the right tool is especially important for me not just for visual reasons, but for psychological considerations as well with respect to the subject. I have a strong cinematic visual style that probably transfers across any video or film camera I use, and I would say it’s the same for my filmmaking partner, Donal Mosher, who is first and foremost a still photographer. His sensibility is a continuous source of inspiration – he always sees the world so differently than I do! – regardless of what camera he’s shooting his photographs on.

Our last film collaboration, “October Country” was shot on the HVX200, a small-sensor HD camera. There was something about that camera that allowed me to transfer the feeling of Donal’s photographic work; the film moved onto a more cinematic realm that remained both true to his work and to my own sensibility. The camera could shoot slow motion, which I like to use stylistically, and it had a zoom lens with an incredible range on it. Using the zoom was actually less stylistic than practical: it gave me the widest range of options later when I was editing the film. A zoom lens was an especially important tool when I was following around a precocious 12-year-old girl who wasn’t going to do something for me twice. It was also critical in allowing me to be close to family members at an especially intense emotional moment without being right in their face.

Read the rest of this article from Indiewire.

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by Michael Shaw.

Something rather amazing has been happening in film-making over the past four years that has not yet received mainstream recognition. It is not the latest of the 3D revivals, but a technological development that was almost accidental.

For decades, home film-makers and low-budget directors had learned to live with disappointment: their Super 8 or 16mm films did not look nearly as impressive as the 35mm movies shot by professionals. The arrival of high- definition camcorders sounded promising, but the footage still ended up seeming flat and noisily pixelated compared to big-budget television dramas.

Read the rest of this article from TES.

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by Nick Allen.

by Ians.

The celluloid film, used by filmmakers for over a century, is most likely to be overtaken by digital cinema as the preferred mode of film-making by early 2012, and will disappear by 2015.

For 120 years, movies have been distributed on celluloid rolls housed in circular canisters and shown by projectors burning intensely bright carbon arc lamps.

But in early 2012, digital cinema will overtake celluloid globally, with the last celluloid cinemas expected to close shop by 2015.

Many directors still favour the “warm” look of celluloid, which is still preferred by an ace moviemaker like Steven Spielberg.

In Britain, two-thirds of cinemas are already digital. Analyst IHS Screen Digest says celluloid could disappear as early as 2013, the Daily Mail reports.

Read the rest of this article from IBN Live.

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by Louis Bedigian.

The company that popularized the art of shooting with a DSLR is about to release the next evolution in digital cinematography.

Last week, Canon (NYSE: CAJ) unveiled the C300, a new camera designed specifically for high-end filmmakers. Due for release in January at a price of $20K, the C300 comes with a “super 35MM-equivalent 16:9 large CMOS sensor” that shoots 4K images (or not, depending on who you talk to). Thus far, the initial test videos have been very impressive.

This announcement came just as RED announced the final plans and pricing for its long-awaited Scarlet camera, a smaller, less expensive alternative to its previous offerings. Scarlet will retail for just under $10,000 (camera body only), but you can get a ready-to-shoot model for roughly $15,000.

At first glance, Scarlet might sound like the better deal. But RED cameras typically require a bunch of expensive extras. That’s part of the company’s strategy; lure filmmakers with a low base price and hit their pockets later with a plethora of expensive add-ons. While Canon could be planning a similar strategy (ex: you’ll still have to buy the lenses and other equipment separately, but that’s true of most film cameras), the company has one significant advantage over its competitors: filmmakers are already fans of the format.

Read the rest of this article from Forbes.

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by Jim Fisher.

Canon threw its hat into the pro filmmaking ring last night, announcing the new Cinema EOS camera system.

It was only a matter of time before the company made a move like this—it has long been a major player in the consumer and prosumer video camera markets, but also found success in independent filmmaking circles with the 5D Mark II and 7D D-SLR cameras. An episode of the Fox medical drama House, in which most of the action took place inside the rubble of a collapsed building, was shot with a 5D Mark II because of the ability to work in tight spaces using the camera.

Read the rest of this review from PCMag.

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from Daiji World.

Panelists at an open forum on digital tools in filmmaking at the Mumbai Film Festival Saturday were unanimous in endorsing digital technology as the future of the medium.

“We have no choice but to adapt to digital. And unlike in the past, it is not because it is cheaper but because the quality of digital has gone up and it allows you to do a lot more,” said filmmaker Rohan Sippy.

Cinematographer Amit Roy agreed.

“Digital for years was not up to the standards of film. But in the last three to four years, it has changed. The ‘red camera’ was a game changer and now you have the Arri, the 5D and other amazing cameras,” he said.

When someone thinks digital, one thinks only of digital filmmaking. Yet, digital permeates cinema in more ways than one.

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by Robert Francis Taylor.

The rise of DSLRs has caught the attention of professional filmmakers – but are they a game-changer or a distraction for those who strive for success in the film industry?

If you had spoken to professional cinematographers and filmmakers five years ago and told them that the next breakthrough for guerilla filmmaking was to come from a stills camera, they would have thought you were mad. Flash-forward to the present day, and that is exactly what has happened.

The advent of filmmaking with DSLRs has sprung up and surprised many people with its relatively low-cost but high-end results, giving practically anybody the chance to create eye-catching cinema.

The reason DSLRs have attracted so much attention is because of the sheer quality that they can deliver, despite not coming with the huge price-tag of a traditional film camera. It’s no surprise that cinephiles and industry professionals are starting to sit up and take notice, with this mode of filmmaking even capturing the attention of Darren Aronofsky, who used a Canon 7D and Canon 1D Mk IV to film particular sections of his award-winning film, Black Swan.

Read the rest of this article from Foto Rater.

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by Karen Idelson.

For years, filmmakers have been vexed by a chaotic Wild West of digital file formats that caused everything from dramatic falloffs in image quality to vast jumps in cost. Now, a new fix from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences aims to bring order to this untamed frontier.

While the digital revolution has made a lot of things less expensive and more convenient, there was no standard for how digital elements are shared among the many firms and artists on a project. Files have had to be translated to and from dozens of file formats, with images not always translating properly, quality suffering, and time and money wasted fixing the problems.

Read the rest of this article from Variety.

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