Pop Pictures

In the era of digital filmmaking, you have the ability to watch the footage you just shot, literally in the time it takes for the actors to get up and walk over to the monitor.  This is called playback.  Everyone loves playback because they can fix whatever wasn’t right, or if everything was perfect, they can be certain of it and move on.  This goes for the actors, the director, the cinematographer, the costume person, etc. etc.

It’s one of those advances in technology that is both a super convenience and a super time-suck at the same time.  Just like we spend hours surfing around the Web, the film crew spends hours watching and rewatching playback.  Though it’s true that you can fix every little mistake before moving on, is it worth all the time?  Maybe we’re starting to miss the point.  After all, people made good movies in the old days too.

It’s an interesting question.  Above all else, a good movie is alive.  And many alive movies have boom shadows, light stands, loose framing, mistimed acting, various continuity problems, all sorts of so-called mistakes in them.  It’s part of their charm, that you can feel the craftsmanship behind it, like a piece of ceramic contains a dimple from the maker’s hands or the uneven ash distribution from an uneven fire.

Should a work of art be a specimen of digital accuracy?  For all the little problems you can fix, do you lose some of the haphazardness of thinking on your feet?  Often times, you think the last take was the best one because you got everything perfect.  Then when you get into the editing room, you end up using the first one, because…um, no idea why.  It just seems to be fresher or messier or somethinger.

Maybe films benefit from unpredictability and imperfection?

~ by admin on February 18, 2010.

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