Fighting to save the last film factory

Agfa and Fuji both quit. Kodak is it. Very few film labs left too. Hopefully the Black Magic Film scanner will help bring it back a bit, as the most expensive part of shooting film is scanning it.
 
zijital said:
Article said Kodak is the last major manufacture of film, anyone know of minor ones?
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You can't make film in a minor way. Photographic color negative film manufacturing is not a boutique process. It can't be made by hand. It requires an industrial process, and a bunch of highly trained technicians, to make photographic color negative film.

See the book (if you can find a copy) Making KODAK Film by Robert Shanebrook that documents Kodak's process. The audacity of what they do set me back on my heels, and I'm an industrial automation engineer.
 
Bruce Watson said:
You can't make film in a minor way. Photographic color negative film manufacturing is not a boutique process. It can't be made by hand. It requires an industrial process, and a bunch of highly trained technicians, to make photographic color negative film.

See the book (if you can find a copy) Making KODAK Film by Robert Shanebrook that documents Kodak's process. The audacity of what they do set me back on my heels, and I'm an industrial automation engineer.
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Simply no one uses film anymore, except a couple of very high end directors. Wasn't that long ago when everyone did - home movies, newscasts, industrials, student films, TV shows, B movies, block busters - everything was shot on film. Even in the mid-90's the notion that video would completely replace film would seem laughable.

Yet it's happened. And frankly, I see nothing wrong with it. Video has come so far so fast that I'd guess 99% of people would find it impossible to tell the difference between the two formats, assuming a decent grade.
 
I've said it many times before... I really think any one getting into still photographer or moving pictures should take a B&W photography course w/ a fully manual - mechanical SLR camera & develop prints in the dark room.

The process of going slow, of thinking without color, of not being able to see the photo you just took 2 seconds later, of having to think in reverse when in the dark room, etc. are things that have helped me greatly.

Yes, this is all out dated, but forcing you to go slow forces you to really learn how things work. And then pick up your digital camera & everything is a piece of cake with color correction, photoshop, etc. etc. etc.

This is what I think about when I hear that it is only Kodak left making film. I'm a big fan of digital, but I don't ever want to see film gone forever.
 
If Hollywood wants to invest in film, ok thats' cool, they have plenty of money. But the current digital movies look great.
 
zijital said:
Article said Kodak is the last major manufacture of film, anyone know of minor ones?
Click to expand...

there's Adox and Orwo in Europe (Germany I think) both making black and white negative and Ferrania in Italy is starting to produce color reversal. there's also four or five places repackaging and re-perforating/silting old stock from Fuji and Agfa (which is bound to run out sooner or later)
 
It's all about having choices, right? Losing film is losing that option to get that exact look and workflow.
 
I would love for them to bring back older film stocks from the 70', 80's and 90's. I haven't seen a digital cinema camera that can replicate those.
 
Apatow is right when he said "There's a magic to the grain and the color quality that you get with film." I mean who can imagine what his films "Knocked Up" and "40 year Old Virgin" would have been like without the subtle beauty and majesty of film to convey his message.
 
zijital said:
I've said it many times before... I really think any one getting into still photographer or moving pictures should take a B&W photography course w/ a fully manual - mechanical SLR camera & develop prints in the dark room.

The process of going slow, of thinking without color, of not being able to see the photo you just took 2 seconds later, of having to think in reverse when in the dark room, etc. are things that have helped me greatly.

Yes, this is all out dated, but forcing you to go slow forces you to really learn how things work. And then pick up your digital camera & everything is a piece of cake with color correction, photoshop, etc. etc. etc.

This is what I think about when I hear that it is only Kodak left making film. I'm a big fan of digital, but I don't ever want to see film gone forever.
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+100 Echoing my own sentiments. Well said :)
 
f64manray said:
Apatow is right when he said "There's a magic to the grain and the color quality that you get with film." I mean who can imagine what his films "Knocked Up" and "40 year Old Virgin" would have been like without the subtle beauty and majesty of film to convey his message.
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Granted that his movies aren't the hallmark of cinematography, but his statement isn't wrong.

I like purists and "real craftmanship" like Wally Pfister, but after watching Transcendence, which had a photochemical finish I wasn't impressed at all with some shots/scenes, being very contrasty and low DR (sure, he wasn't the cinematographer, but it was his call I think to go photochemical), might just have been a bad cinema/projector I saw it in too.
*real craftmanship doesnt mean that the guys in the all digital world are bad or sloppy, just that it is these days the "easier" choice (and most probably the better in terms of money/speed).
 
recording audio on a wire is gone forever - no one cares
scratching audio into wax cylinders is gone forever - no one cares
black and white, soundless, 15 frames per second is gone forever - no one cares
Dodo bird is gone - life moves on

So long film! Thanks for existing when you did, as the best and only option during this advancing evolutionary growth.

Progress happens.
The gear is NOT the talent.
 
wwjd said:
recording audio on a wire is gone forever - no one cares
scratching audio into wax cylinders is gone forever - no one cares
black and white, soundless, 15 frames per second is gone forever - no one cares
Dodo bird is gone - life moves on

So long film! Thanks for existing when you did, as the best and only option during this advancing evolutionary growth.

Progress happens.
The gear is NOT the talent.
Click to expand...

The problem with this is that the film we have today isn't like the film from 100 years ago. If all we had was B&W grainy low speed film that could only shoot at 15fps and all of the HD cameras we have, this wouldn't be an issue.

The issue is that film today has a look to it that digital hasn't been able to replace. It isn't objective resolution, color, grain... etc. It is a subjective taste between two mediums which are of comparable quality. It is the difference between Coke & Pepsi. Some like one over the other, and by "like" I mean refuse to consume the one that they think is all that is evil.

Progress happens. I'm all for it. But I'm glad we still have painters even though we have cameras. I'm glad that I can hear a live (average) musician at some small event, not just a recording of the best musicians on the planet.

There is progress and there is throwing the baby out with the bath water and calling it "progress."

That being said, I'm happy that I don't have to use film to get great images. But I want to live in a world where artists are able to use the mediums that they need to make masterpieces.
 
Video will some day somehow be able to totally match film, because when you think about it the films we watch are in fact video, telecined video.
 
Industrial light and magic has been matching film for many years now. Just think of the multitude of digital FX shots composited and inserted back into film shots without the viewer missing a beat.
 
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