From: Mitsu Hadeishi (email suppressed)
Date: Sat Mar 04 2006 - 20:17:42 PST
I hate to add to what seems to be an increasingly polarized debate, but again
I think the whole point is utterly missed here: we are just talking about a
medium. The medium has properties. Art can be made out of any medium, it
can be made with video, film, HD, VHS, flip books, crayons, whatever. I
certainly would never tell anyone they must shoot on HD, but I would say that
people who imply (and this is the implication of many postings in this
recurring thread) that real artists only shoot on film, or only show their
work on film --- I think this idea is utterly ridiculous.
I can understand why, say, someone like Dorsky insists on shooting on film and
not transferring his work to video. However, I know a lot of people making
experimental work on video or transferring their films to DVD without any
significant loss --- their work happens to involve elements which work fine
when transferred to DVD or shot on video or HD.
I am not saying that the "death of film" would be a good thing, by any means.
I certainly wouldn't tell people who want to shoot on film only that they
must join the digital age. I DO believe, however, that it is
counterproductive to divide the world by technology --- to me, that is, as I
said before, the sort of nerdy distinction that ought to be the province of
people who attend Star Trek conventions, not people who aspire to be trying
to make and promote art (apologies to Star Trek fans ...)
It seems to me that this endless rehashing of film vs. video or analog vs.
digital is the sort of pointless infighting that serves only to distract us
from what I think is far more interesting, the discussion and promotion of
experimental, innovative, creative work in any medium. To get obsessed with
a single technical process from the early 20th Century just seems like a
total sidetrack. What is relevant is what people are doing, what they are
making. There are lots of fantastic things being done by young artists with
digital media and video. and there will be a lot more to come, and it seems
to me far more useful and interesting to focus on what we can do in whatever
medium we choose, rather than attacking each other for preferring or
sanctioning a particular process.
M
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