1. Celluloid Will Be No More
Whether it is 35mm or 15/70mm, traditional film, which has been used since the birth of the motion picture, will stopped being used entirely very soon. Of all the things that are going to change, this makes me the saddest. It shocked me to hear Scorsese, of all people, has decided to swap to digital for 'The Wolf of Wall Street', calling celluloid a dead format. Everything seems so much easier when shot on Digital. I am not criticising the format as such- after all, David Lynch and Michael Mann have used it to mesmerising effect and it is a very effective format to shoot in, especially for first-time and independent filmmakers. But I say shame on studios who are trying to cut costs by converting everything to digital. Theres swimming against the tide and then theres surfing on the break of a wave (horrible metaphor, sorry). 'The Dark Knight Rises' in a proper IMAX is a unique experience, one I waited a whole month for and Im glad I did, and probably the last time we will witness anything close to the epics of yesteryear like 'Lawrence of Arabia' or 'Ben-Hur' in such beautiful presentation. Like them or not, the sheer scale and picture quality transports you to a different place, and thats why its worth paying extra and going all the way to a cinema. Sadly, I believe its something to do with the rising price of silver but I may be wrong, its supposedly not worth the extra cost for studios, and Panavision have stopped making celluloid cameras. For shame! It is down to the Paul Thomas Andersons and the Christopher Nolans of this world to cut and paste by hand (and that is why I will travel as far as I have to in order to see 'The Master' in the format PTA intended it to be shown in), but by the time I hopefully get to the stage in my career where somebody gives me a budget to make a film instead of me raising it all myself, I wont be able to learn how to work with celluloid because it just wont be available. I will just have to adjust, but the quality to me will not feel the same, and because it is not available, the next generation, including me, will not shoot with film.