Recently I have been writing about the conventions of TV Commercials. As pointed out in this blog post, most commercials get shot digitally nowadays and this is due to a good reason: Shooting on film can be quite a pain, pretty expensive and far from practical!
In this blog post I want to clarify the main differences between an analog and a digital image and further on try to simulate the celluloid film look myself.
Digital VS Analog
Shooting analog was the best option in terms of overall picture quality for quite some time until ARRI turned the professional filmmaking world on it’s head by introducing the ARRI Alexa back in 2009. Later on famous DP Roger Deakins said, “This camera has brought us to a point where digital is simply better.” In terms of practicality and workflow this was obviously no surprise but now ARRI managed to put out a digital camera that has the dynamic range and robustness of a film camera, whilst still having all the benefits of a digital camera.
As discussed in a previous blog post, some DPs like Hoyte van Hoytema still prefer shooting on film as they like certain characteristics that come with the process of shooting, developing and post processing film. I personally think this is quite a fair point to be made. I myself love the film look with all it’s technical imperfections. Watching Jonah Hill’s feature directorial debut Mid90s (2018), which was filmed on 16mm, quickly catched my attention with its reminiscent look and tone.
Grain is Trending
Quite a few consumer cameras can already record in a whopping 8K-Resolution and even lenses get sharper and sharper. Although this is a great development, filmmakers tend to go the other way more often nowadays. Opting for a more stylized vintage image rather than a clean and pristine one. Not only films but also music videos and even commercials (e.g. Volvos “The Parents”) show this trend, with more and more works like these coming up every week.
As I only found out a few weeks ago, this analog trend even found it’s way into the consumer photography market. When a friend of mine suddenly pulled out his Fujifilm camera I’ve mistaken it for an analog camera even though it was brand new. He later on told me he bought it for the internal film simulations and showed me pictures, which were actually looking very on point. This product made me feel lied to in a way, like a wolf in sheeps clothing. A digital camera but with (nearly) all the benefits of an analog one.
The way this camera embraces it’s film simulations got me very curious. I have always loved the look and characteristics of film but due to ease of use, workflow advantages and financial reasons, shooting digital always seemed the way to go for me and many other filmmakers. Faking the film look seemed like a cheap trick that gets easily exposed which led me to stay away from doing it but after watching emulated videoclips and also reading into the topic I think I might change my mind. In the next blog post I want to break down the characteristics of the celluloid film look by reviewing examples and sharing my research.
Sources:
https://www.arri.com/en/company/about-arri/history/history
