Types of film/DV...

Dutchboy

Dutchboy

I must warn you this is a very newbish question. I also consider myself a screenwriter before a cinematographer, which explains the majority of my newbish questions regarding cameras and editing (but I'm getting better). Anyway, can someone please explain or provide examples of the different formats:

Super 8
16mm
35mm
Video
DV/MiniDV
HD

I own a Canon XL2 and I don't even know which it falls under. I'm guessing DV? 35mm is used for major motion pictures? Please enlighten the newb. Thanks.
 
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Super-8, 16mm & 35mm are all use film to record images. (The 8, 16 & 35 is the measurement, in millimeters, of each frame of film)

The rest are video, recorded onto (usually) magnetic tape, though some of the more recent cameras record onto hard-drives or flash-drives.

There's all kinds of variables for video (which also affects film, too, as that is almost always transferred to video at some point... editing, broadcast, whatever)

Mini-DV is still fairly common (using either 640x480 (tv-sized) or 720x480 (widescreen-sized)

HD has a tonne of different standards (very annoying... it ain't standard!), but has much greater resolution than plain mini-DV.

DV (by itself) is just a general term, encompassing any camera recording digitally - so ya got:

Mini-DV - usually tape.
HD - could be tape or digital drive
HDV - could be tape or digital drive
BetaSP & Digicam (magnetic tape)
8mm & Hi-8 (not film - some of the first mass-consumer camcorders, using an 8mm magnetic tape cassette)
Digital-8 (funky Sony format that bridged a gap between Hi-8 and mini-DV)

You also had VHS, S-VHS, and a host of other formats. Each with their own specs, not compatable with each other. All kinds of crazy differences with lines of resolution, aspect ratios, and more.

Your XL-2 is mini-DV (but a rather nice one)

35mm is used for major motion pictures?
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If they're shooting film it would be a good bet, sure. Some use 16mm, and blow it up to 35mm later if needed. A few use 70mm.

More & more are shooting digital, though.

Btw, there's a really awesome flick that was shot on Super-8 (and a pinch of 8mm digital).

"The Saddest Music in the World"

No reason for mentioning that. I just like it.
smiley_pac.gif
 
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Dutchboy, your XL-2 is standard definition digital video (SD DV).

As far as film becoming obsolete, I feel it will be within 10 years or so. With the rapid advances in digital as far as color and resolution goes, it won't be long before actually shooting on film will be a thing of the past.
 
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I doubt it will ever completely disappear. It's a great artistic medium. I mean, all the pianos in the world didn't disappear when really great keyboards with weighted keys and superb sound reproduction came along..
 
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Pixar are releasing all their films from Bolt onwards in digital and 3d. James Cameron did a talk for cinema managers at a Fox film day and he was raving about 3d but also digital.

Pixar releasing everything in digital 3d means cinema's need to buy digital projectors in order to keep their market share or eventually they'll lose films that other chains can have because they invested in the technology. Once cinema's are really getting kitted out with digital projectors you'll start to see a lot more films being shot and released that way.

The cinema's are the very last rung on the film ladder but thats where the films get shown and you can see where the industry is heading. The chain i work for just opened the first all digital cinema in Europe.

I'm not sure if you can shoot a movie on film and sent out a digital copy of the print to cinema's or if thats only possible if the movie has been shot in digital, as i say cinema's are the bottom of the totem pole.
 
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I really hope 3D doesn't appear as often as 2D... I like it once in a while, like the Nightmare Before Xmas, but the last thing I wanna see is 6/10 movies in a theatre in 3D.
 
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Well i know pixar are going for shooting everying in 3d but they will still release 3d and non 3d verisons of it. Once it kicks off 3d will prob be huge but i think in terms of the cinema industry changing the way films are shown its the fact that their shooting digitial that'll start to change things.

Theres a lot of alternative content going through the 3d stuff at the moment, U2 just had a gig shown in UK cinemas in 3d digital.

The digital prints i've seen in work have looked amazing and i think 3d will remain mostly a novelty only a more comment novelty in the future.

Someone did hire out a screen to show his girlfriend Aliens and it was a really bad, scratched print but it looked so good...nostalgic

Can't make my mind up either way really, looking forward to more digital releases but the 35mm prints feel more 'cinema' to me
 
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Will Vincent said:
I doubt it will ever completely disappear. It's a great artistic medium. I mean, all the pianos in the world didn't disappear when really great keyboards with weighted keys and superb sound reproduction came along..
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Except that those electronic ones still don't accurately reproduce the sound of an actual high end grand piano. They do sound great, but still not as good.

Digital video is rapidly approaching the same level of quality as film, so there will be no actual reason to use film.

The day they create an electronic keyboard that completely accurately reproduces the same acoustics and tone of a real high end grand piano, you can bet no one will be using grand pianos except the people stuck in the past. :)
 
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thefilmgeek said:
Except that those electronic ones still don't accurately reproduce the sound of an actual high end grand piano. They do sound great, but still not as good.

Digital video is rapidly approaching the same level of quality as film, so there will be no actual reason to use film.

The day they create an electronic keyboard that completely accurately reproduces the same acoustics and tone of a real high end grand piano, you can bet no one will be using grand pianos except the people stuck in the past. :)
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I've got midi software that reproduces the exact tonal qualities of a variety of pianos, so yes they do exist. And yes, pianos are still very widely used and available. Film isn't going to just die, not anytime soon anyway.
 
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Plus, there may be more than a few great composers and musicians who would NEVER get the chance to create their Music ... if they had to wait to compose it and play it on a grand piano!

Or convince someone "in the Business" to buy them a grand piano.

I LOVE the idea of how (relatively) inexpensive DV and HD and cheap digital editing puts the means of production into the hands of the People.

We can all rightfully dream of the artistic purity of Film! But the only way I (and probably others here too) would ever get up that ladder full of challenging rungs is ... learn and evolve by CREATING and SHOOTING on affordable DV! :yes:

Cool forums like Indie Talk ... they're the roadmap to where we wanna be!
 
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I went into a camera shop the other day, and was taken aback. It had been a while since I had been in one(I was picking up a Firewire), and in years past it it would have been wall to wall film and cameras. Now, while some cameras are for sale, the film was in a small bin. I asked the manager about it, and he said that's it. With digital cameras so cheap now, film is pretty much used only as a hobby. He figures in about 5 years "film" will pretty much cease to exist for cameras for mass public consumption. I know I have a DV camera(and love it)but the next one I get may be an SD or USB storage camera simply because less moving parts(though I still like the idea of a "hard" copy of something.)

Still, I agree that film does have a certain quality to it-it's not "perfect" and when it gets scratched it sometimes has a charm of its own.
 
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Yes, one can do that.. but there are several other differences film has that digital does not. Sure digital may eventually get there (specifically I'm referring to the dynamic range) but film looks like film, and there's certainly something about it people like or there wouldn't be so many conversations and energy put into making digital look like film. ;)
 
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