Resolution and the big screen

[Barry_Green]

You wanna shoot your $50K feature on Red? With no names? At 4K?!?!? Why?

Kholi did, because he could. He had access to the Red cheap, and it is undeniably substantially better than a DSLR. But it was a tactical decision based on his intimate knowledge of the Red, and his ability to get it for extremely little money.

I'd rather see more budget put into production value because it won't matter if you shoot on film or 4K if the production value isn't there.

Agreed 1,000%. It's all a matter of putting your money where it will do the most good. I'd much rather see people shoot on iPhone 4's and hire an art director and a qualified DP, than spend $10,000 on a rented Red and shoot non-actors on white wall sets.

 

[Razz16mm]

Barry's comment about art direction is a good one. The camera is just one element of the overall production that should be balanced with other requirements through the process of production design.
But the fact that an audience will sit through just about any sort of crap you throw at them doesn't mean that the visual quality of a film doesn't matter. Production values should match creative intent and style of the film. "Content is king" is not a cop out. Narrative cinema is a visual medium and every visual detail has impact on your content and your audience. If you just want to tell a story, write a novel.

 

[pulpfiction007]

Barry's comment about art direction is a good one. The camera is just one element of the overall production that should be balanced with other requirements through the process of production design.
But the fact that an audience will sit through just about any sort of crap you throw at them doesn't mean that the visual quality of a film doesn't matter. Production values should match creative intent and style of the film. "Content is king" is not a cop out. Narrative cinema is a visual medium and every visual detail has impact on your content and your audience. If you just want to tell a story, write a novel.

I agree 100%. There are a lot of films (mostly foreign) that actually RELY on the imagery rather than dialogue, and that is where breathtaking shots/cinematography REALLY matter. Some of those films would have much less impact if they were shot on inferior cameras. Yes the good DPs can make masterful use of lesser equipment, but sometimes the images are so relevant to what the audience feels, that at least a decent camera is required. It's like the difference between DYLAN and a band like EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY - On one hand the "sound" can be underwhelming and it won't matter, because the Lyrics/story are so compelling and on the other hand the "sound" IS the story.

 

[redhighway]

O.K so my last post was supposed to be my last but this thread is great. Chris said " But, how many Indie efforts ever get close to being projected at even a film festival?" I make all my films to show at festivals. I've seen everything I've made on big screens at festivals. I only have a big screen in mind when I'm making a film. This Saturday I have a short playing in competiton at The Minghella Festival and they take over our local Cineworld- I'll let you know what it looked like on a 40ft screen.

 

[Chris Santucci]

I've seen everything I've made on big screens at festivals.

That's great, but America probably has more filmmakers per square mile than any country on Earth so we tend to have less success getting films into festivals here.

But yeah, certainly what you should shoot for is projection in the end.

 

[redhighway]

Maybe I should show some films from your side of the pond here on my little Island then. (It's not that little, about 150 thousand people in the winter and a zillion in the summer) I help run a fringe festival here in August www.vfringe.co.uk last year we had the legendary French filmmaker Vincent Moon come over for 4 days. He shoots everything on a panasonic p2. I built a little cinema in an empty shop and we showed his and other peoples films up on a screen, about 15ft, for the whole festival. This year I'm going to try and build one on the top of a double decker BUS! If you think, if you have, if you know of a half dozen short films that would fit the bill and you want me to show them let me know. I WILL SHOW THEM. No bad horror or porn though.
Jim