What if video came before film?

H

Huy Vu

Veteran
As filmmakers, we're all striving for that "film look" on a shoestring budget and a video camera. The videoish, soap opera look is equated with low budget productions. But I'm just wondering, what if video had come along before film? Ignoring the obvious technological progression, what if the first motion pictures were captured not on 35mm film, but on video cameras similar to what we're using now? Would video become the new "film look"? Would people try their best to get rid of DOF in their shot? Light their set as flat as they possibly can? Do everything to make it look videoish?

Any thoughts?
 
nah probably not. People are trying to create the "film Look" based on the late 80's through today looks of flashy camera moves and shallow DOF.

The old days, sets were lit flat and shot at very small apetures, that had deep DOF. The real film look is detialed sets, proper blocking, good framing, good lighting, good acting. its a question of everyone on set knowing their job and doing it well.
 
TimurCivan said:
nah probably not. People are trying to create the "film Look" based on the late 80's through today looks of flashy camera moves and shallow DOF.

The old days, sets were lit flat and shot at very small apetures, that had deep DOF. The real film look is detialed sets, proper blocking, good framing, good lighting, good acting. its a question of everyone on set knowing their job and doing it well.
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Totally agree.

Annie Hall 35mm film 1977:

AnnieTennis.jpg


Annie_hall_scene.jpg


Simple contrast, deep DOF. Completely different than the film look most seek today with video.

Taxi Driver 35mm film 1976

taxi7.jpg


taxi_driver.jpg


Also there have been very successful recent movies shot on film without shallow DOF, rack focus, etc. Like Y Tu Mama Tambien:

24enttambien.jpg


y_tu_mama_tambien_01.jpg


ytumamatambien2.jpg


y_tu_mama_1.jpg




These last three films have a few things in common. Like the fact that they don't use shallow DOF, they had a great story, they had great acting, and that they were very, very successful.
 
DOF and Lighting are artistic decisions that people would always want to play with, I think... but the faster framerate I CAN imagine as something that would be demanded of film if it were to come later... I don't know that the decrease in frame rate would be welcome if imposed later, if we weren't culturally conditioned to think of 24FPS as "real movie".

However, it would be amusing: The Panavision DVX100: The first prosumer film camera to feature true interlaced film frames...
 
I'm thankful film came first for both cinema and still photography. Today at work I had to build an image gallery of old photographs from the early 1900's. The quality of the images were amazing. Both a testament to the photographers of the time and their medium. I'm glad they were able to archive history on such a high resolutution/high dynamic range medium as film. It's kind of sad there is going to be (actually already is) a chunk of history through part of the 70's, the 80's and 90's where a lot of history was documented on bad quality video.

I was born in 79 and my folks recorded part of my childhood with a betamax and a video8 camera. My brother and sisters who are 13+ years older then me had their childhoods filmed on super8. In general neither have really held up that well over the years, but the color super 8 film still has nice color whereas the betamax is pretty much B&W now and the Video8 is pretty shoddy too.
 
I was a big format (4x5) still shooter for many years before I ever developed any interest in motion projects. I wasn't the only one; consider the existence of things like the "f64 club"!

Not all shots need to (or even should be) really shallow DOF ones (some great examples have been sited in this thread). I find that too many filmmakers are abusing this new found toy and haven't yet learned where to put it to its best use. It really shouldn't be just to cover up a complete lack of production design for the sets. Yes there are times when it enhances the story but as other have stated, shallow DOF in itself isn't the definition of a "film look". Its just one of many options and ways to tell the story.
 
its really prett sometimes, but i feel like it became the music video/commercial look that spread to film. Thank Chris cunningham.
 
TimurCivan said:
its really prett sometimes, but i feel like it became the music video/commercial look that spread to film. Thank Chris cunningham.
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And that is exactly what annoys me with movies today. I can't sit through that overly flashy crap.
 
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