[Leica] Re: Lucas and digital

[William Davis <wishda@weblnk.net>]

> Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1999 13:13:37 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Byron Rakitzis <leica@rakitzis.com>
> Subject: Re: [Leica] Leica Users digest V12 #57
> 
> > Yet the motion picture and advertising industries stayed with film.
> > Television studios flirted with video, but most shows on today are shot
> > on film.
> 
> William,
> 
> Sorry to trim your excellent post, but I only wanted to add a followup
> to this.
> 
> Isn't it ironic that Lucas is working on completely digitalizing the
> film business, at least on the distribution end? I'm not even talking
> about all the production aspects which have already gone digital. As
> far as I know the theater moguls would dearly LOVE to get out of the
> business of distributing prints from one theater to the next.
> 
> I'm trying to keep an open mind on all this. I love film. I really
> do. But if I had to bet I would bet that my film habit will get more
> expensive in years to come as film photography becomes a part of an
> industry dominated by digital imaging.
> 
> Byron.

I do not view digital distribution as the end of film. The movies
themselves will still be shot on film and retain the qualities of film.
It is no different than using a film scanner to put negatives in a
computer and e-mail them.

As for using digital for the movies themselves, Lucas has said he
intended to do this for the first film and decided not to since the
technology was not there yet. I have heard that preliminary FX test
shots for the first one are also being done in film, a good sign that it
too will be shot on film and not digital.

Have you ever seen an NFL pro game on HDTV, shot with high-def digital
lenses? If you get a chance, watch one and then compare it to some of
the sports documentaries shot on film. The high-def stuff looks a lot
better than video, but it still cannot compare to the look of film on a
low-def TV.