Newsflash: if you aren't aware, as many average movie-goers may not be, there is an incredible change happening in the world of cinema that has become the proverbial snowball down a mountain side for the last 15 years. The signs are evident for everyone, however. The growth in films presented in 3D and the amazing advances in visual effects are two very obvious hints to this change. And though it seems like the difference in choice between one and the other, it is a choice that has an effect on every part of the filmmaking process, distribution, and watching experience. This is the transition motion pictures have from the celluloid film to the digital capture form, and it is the subject of the incredibly fascinating documentary Side by Side.
Directed and written by Christopher Kenneally and narrated and paneled by actor Keanu Reeves, Side by Side searches out the ways digital cinema has become the new staple in the film world, the science behind these changes, the discussion of the art form, and how this transition started to take place. It is not a documentary trying to persuade us one way or another, or even saying that there is a right and a wrong. It displays the facts as facts and gives us the opinions of a series of individuals who couldn't be more credible.
This may be the major drawing point for anyone to see this film. Here is a short list of some of the major individuals that give their professional insight on the subject of this film: directors Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, David Lynch, George Lucas, Christopher Nolan, David Fincher, Steven Soderbergh, Danny Boyle, Robert Rodriguez, Lars von Trier, and Andy and Lana Wachowski, and cinematographers Michael Ballhas, Dion Beebe, Michael Chapman, Anthony Dod Mantle, and Wally Pfister. This group is also joined by several other directors, DPs, editors, actors, producers, execs, and color technicians to give us a well rounded look into the effects digital film has had in cinema.
What is so well done in Side by Side are the conversations with these major players in today's and yesterday's cinema. We get to hear deep confessions about making films, passion in the individuals who make them, and the cases for both sides of the argument. While the argument of film vs. digital essentially comes down to convenience and money, there are definitely deeper reasons than this.
For example, directors like James Cameron and George Lucas confess over and over that the films they make are just not possible with celluloid film. When you look at a film such as Avatar, a film that takes place in the jungle for more than three quarters of the film, it is the reality that not a single moment had been filmed in the jungle that really hits you. Watching Cameron go to work on large sets with blue screens all around him helps you understand the amazing technological advancements that were needed for a film like Avatar. It makes you realize that films like this aren't possible without digital cinema.
But this also brings up the argument against digital. Sure, Avatar may look pretty and be fun to watch, but it is actually all fake. Essentially, none of what you see is real. Does this take away from the film experience? Cameron argues that the same could be said about an Indie film where someone stands on a street. Sure, everything in the shot is real, but there are thirty people behind the camera watching it happen and boom mics and equipment all around. He essentially argues that film, whether it be Avatar or Taxi Driver, has always been as fake or real as you want to imagine it.
To read the rest of the review (IMDb form too short) visit: http://custodianfilmcritic.com/side- by-side/
Directed and written by Christopher Kenneally and narrated and paneled by actor Keanu Reeves, Side by Side searches out the ways digital cinema has become the new staple in the film world, the science behind these changes, the discussion of the art form, and how this transition started to take place. It is not a documentary trying to persuade us one way or another, or even saying that there is a right and a wrong. It displays the facts as facts and gives us the opinions of a series of individuals who couldn't be more credible.
This may be the major drawing point for anyone to see this film. Here is a short list of some of the major individuals that give their professional insight on the subject of this film: directors Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, David Lynch, George Lucas, Christopher Nolan, David Fincher, Steven Soderbergh, Danny Boyle, Robert Rodriguez, Lars von Trier, and Andy and Lana Wachowski, and cinematographers Michael Ballhas, Dion Beebe, Michael Chapman, Anthony Dod Mantle, and Wally Pfister. This group is also joined by several other directors, DPs, editors, actors, producers, execs, and color technicians to give us a well rounded look into the effects digital film has had in cinema.
What is so well done in Side by Side are the conversations with these major players in today's and yesterday's cinema. We get to hear deep confessions about making films, passion in the individuals who make them, and the cases for both sides of the argument. While the argument of film vs. digital essentially comes down to convenience and money, there are definitely deeper reasons than this.
For example, directors like James Cameron and George Lucas confess over and over that the films they make are just not possible with celluloid film. When you look at a film such as Avatar, a film that takes place in the jungle for more than three quarters of the film, it is the reality that not a single moment had been filmed in the jungle that really hits you. Watching Cameron go to work on large sets with blue screens all around him helps you understand the amazing technological advancements that were needed for a film like Avatar. It makes you realize that films like this aren't possible without digital cinema.
But this also brings up the argument against digital. Sure, Avatar may look pretty and be fun to watch, but it is actually all fake. Essentially, none of what you see is real. Does this take away from the film experience? Cameron argues that the same could be said about an Indie film where someone stands on a street. Sure, everything in the shot is real, but there are thirty people behind the camera watching it happen and boom mics and equipment all around. He essentially argues that film, whether it be Avatar or Taxi Driver, has always been as fake or real as you want to imagine it.
To read the rest of the review (IMDb form too short) visit: http://custodianfilmcritic.com/side- by-side/