MovieChat Forums > Side by Side (2012) Discussion > Only science fiction should be made in d...

Only science fiction should be made in digital...nothing else.



I haven't seen this documentary yet, but the subject has fascinated, even troubled me for many years now. I love film. I love the gritty, grainy look that films had in the 60s, 70s, 80s all the way to the mid 90s. I actuallly think that the films of the early 90s had the best texture. They had a sunny feel and look to them...yellowish tinge. So for me at least, DV will never compare. I can see it, gauge it and it stinks. I cannot take most trailers seriously anymore.

HECK...I AM A CINEPHILE and I have seen probably, only about 20 odd films made after 2000. I spend my days watching obscure films from the early days, much like Paul Verhoevan does lately.

However I feel digital does look great for futuristic scenes or scenes with spaceship interiors and their likes. Avatar was spectacular and on of the best examples(very few) of digital video being splendid is Soderberg's Solaris(2002). But u think that's because the sensibilities of hi-def befit science fiction. It doesn't befit gritty realism drama set on the streets of NYC(Taxi Driver) or an intense documentary on the inner workings of journalism(All the Presidents Men).

Film can never be replaced. The grain look enhances the effect on me, something video never does. Video is overgloried, expensive camcorder action.



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Nonsense. Would you like to see something like 2001 or Blade Runner shot digitally? Digital should limit itself to soap operas.

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Grain USED to be the best something could look. Now, things can look better. Why would we not want that?

"Soap Opera" look is just the pathetic lighting, not frame rate, not digital.
When they get better at lighting digital (as opposed to the old film way where they had to over compensate lighting for film's deficiencies), it will look much better. But it is new and few know how to light digital great yet.

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no no and no

compare 1982's "The Thing" (J. Carpenter's one) and the new version (2010 I think)

animatronics vs cgi (monsters)
matte painting vs cgi (starship scenes)

it is clear that creators of the newer version of the movie tried very hard to mimic the feel of the old one and it was massive fail. sci fi is exactly where digital is destroying suspension of disbelief, you can clearly see what has been added digitally, the TV-like feeling of the movie, the CHEAPNESS

another good example - Prometheus and Alien / Aliens - WORLD OF DIFFERENCE
older films look more 'organic', and coupled with well made fx created those immersive worlds. 2 months after the premiere noone is talking about Prometheus - it looked artificial, i could not suspense my disbelief because what I have seen was digital crap. There were many scenes that were directly the copies of scenes from previous alien movies and the only one that looked better was scene of entering the planet atmosphere (in Cameron's 'Aliens' blue screen with clouds kinda destroyed it) - but that just fx not shooting technique, so not relevant.

and it does influence how I perceive the movie - ie my feeling is that those new movies could look much better if done 'the old way'


"Collateral" was the only movie where I feel digital was justified, as director even emphasized this 'digital feel' to make it look more like tv and used it as artistic tool to set mood of it (this strange cold feel), but in the next one (Miami Vice) it was bad and cheap.

Many people here say people don't care, and don't even know what they see. Maybe, but I also have seen many comments in the forum posts complaining about 'cheap look'. Or TV-like feeling. They don't know how to express what they don't like, but they DO notice.



Personally I feel cheated when I see something like that; I'm like - they still want make those hundreds of millions but selling cheaper and worse product. And I refuse to buy it.

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To rishi, you being a self confessed cinephile, I'd highly recommend that you actually watch this movie, because respectfully, you seem to know next to nothing about the digital vs. film debate. The reality of the issue isn't really what you seem to think it is. There are disadvantages to digital film making, none of which you mentioned, and there are real advantages to filming digitally, none of which you seem to be aware of either. The science fiction issue is a big one, but is nearly irrelevant to the overall debate about digital cameras replacing film. This was maybe true 10 years ago when the only Hollywood movie filmed digitally was Attack of the Clones, but these days the issue goes far deeper than digital's advantages for sci fi flicks. It's not only about special effects and CG and spaceships anymore, digital cameras have "arrived" and sci fi is not the main issue at this point.

I love film. I love the gritty, grainy look that films had in the 60s, 70s, 80s all the way to the mid 90s. I actuallly think that the films of the early 90s had the best texture. They had a sunny feel and look to them...yellowish tinge. So for me at least, DV will never compare.


Did Alien 3 have a yellowish tinge? Did Goodfellas have a yellowish tinge? Did Malcolm X have a yellowish tinge? Did Jurassic Park have a yellowish tinge? Did JFK have a yellowish tinge? I'm not sure what in the hell you're talking about. For the record, all of these movies could have been filmed in digital (if they had the same digital cameras available today that is), and could have achieved the same look. And I can almost guarantee that even Scorsese and David Fincher would agree with this statement, both of whom mastered film and now shoot digitally. Yes, even Scorsese.


I cannot take most trailers seriously anymore.


What are you talking about?

Avatar was spectacular


If you've only seen about 20 films made after 2000, that's unfortunate that Avatar was one of them, as that movie was overrated crap. For a movie with a similar topic, I recommend District 9 if you haven't seen it already, which was 10 times better, also filmed digitally, and also looked spectacular.

It doesn't befit gritty realism drama set on the streets of NYC(Taxi Driver) or an intense documentary on the inner workings of journalism(All the Presidents Men).


Slumdog Millionaire and The Social Network were both filmed digitally, both were some of the best films I've seen in recent years, and both had spectacular cinematography. I recommend both if they're not among the post-2000 films you've watched. I mentioned those 2, because they both achieve similar things as the movies you mentioned. Slumdog had the gritty urban realism that you cited, and The Social Network was an intense drama about the inner workings and origins of a multi-billion dollar tech company. Both films spectacularly achieved their goals with digital cameras. Just saying.

Video is overgloried, expensive camcorder action.


Not really. This may have been the case in the early days of digital film making, but this hardly is accurate any more. Was Hugo a glorified camcorder movie? Yes, that was shot digitally as well.

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