In 2008 ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ received 8 Oscars including a well deserving
Best Director win for Danny Boyle. Most people will see this as just
another year for the film industry, however people within the industry viewed
it as being a turning point. It was the first film to have success at the
Oscars that was filmed digitally rather than on 35mm film. Showing how much
this technology has moved on since the 90's when it was snubbed by most film
makers until Danish Film makers like Thomas Vinterburg began using it too great
effect, which resulted in Danny Boyle making a partnership with Antony Dod
Mantle who went on to make 28 Days Later and Slumdog Millionaire and there is
no doubt that without digital camera's Danny Boyle would not have unable to capture
the fast lifestyle in the slums of Mumbai, which made the film so appealing to critics.
This reopened the debate on whether
digital film is a new tool for the future or a step back for filmmakers. In the
new documentary Side by Side, Keanu Reeves spoke to both James Cameron and
George Lucas who both seemed adamant that digital was the future. George Lucas
being one of the first to embrace digital film on a large scale with his so
called film ‘Star Wars Episode I: The
Phantom Menace’, which was the first major blockbuster to be filmed
digitally. James Cameron has revolutionized cinema with his spectacular
creation of the film Avatar which used 3D to improve the film rather than to
increase its revenue. Other filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Christopher
Nolan believe that 35mm still has a strong future in cinema. Scorsese view is
that continued digital filming will increase use of CGI and special effect
resulting in audiences no longer believing that what they are seeing on their
screen is real.
There is no doubt that digital has
opened up new opportunities in cinema. Films can be made at less cost giving
more opportunity to independent filmmakers and Sundance Festival is receiving
more and more entries every year. Director JJ Abrams said 'anyone can make a
big film now all your need is the software and a camera'. So are we seeing a
process by which the exclusive club of filmmakers is being cheapened as anyone
can make a film now? The film makers club may be less exclusive but distributors
still only choose the highest quality films so that only the best makes it too
your local cinema.
So what does the future hold, there
is no doubt that digital will come to be used more frequently with the technology
becoming more and more reliable and producing better quality, but the
relationship that film makers hold with 35 film is one that will not be easily
broken as the quality and reality one receives can still not be matched with
digital film and top directors like Scorsese, Nolan and Tarintino are all
sticking to 35 mm and will be for awhile.
