PBS Documentary on Impact of Digital Filmmaking

I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post this, but there's a documentary airing on PBS tonight (at least it's tonight on some PBS stations--check your local listings) titled Side by Side: The Science, Art, and Impact of Digital Cinema. GL is one of a number of filmmakers interviewed for the film.

Here's some description from the website for the program (http://sidebysidethemovie.com/)

"For almost one hundred years there was only one way to make a movie — with film.
Movies were shot, edited and projected using photochemical film. But over the last two decades a digital process has emerged to challenge photochemical filmmaking. SIDE BY SIDE, a new documentary produced by Keanu Reeves, takes an in-depth look at this revolution. Through interviews with directors, cinematographers, film students, producers, technologists, editors, and exhibitors, SIDE BY SIDE examines all aspects of filmmaking — from capture to edit, visual effects to color correction, distribution to archive. At this moment when digital and photochemical filmmaking coexist, SIDE BY SIDE explores what has been gained, what is lost, and what the future might bring.

The documentary investigates the history, process and workflow of both digital and photochemical film creation. We show what artists and filmmakers have been able to accomplish with both film and digital and how their needs and innovations have helped push filmmaking in new directions. Interviews with directors, cinematographers, colorists, scientists, engineers and artists reveal their experiences and feelings about working with film and digital — where we are now, how we got here and what the future may bring. "

(It's airing at 9:00 p.m EST on my local PBS station. I'm not sure if it will also be available to watch as a link off of the PBS site like some other PBS programming.)

 

Perfect place for it Pensivia.

I do believe Side By Side is on Netflix, too-at least I think I've seen it listed.

 

Oh, right...I didn't realize at first that it has already been out for a while and that the PBS airing tonight is just its U.S. broadcast premiere. I'm planning on watching it tonight. Hopefully others who have already seen it or see it tonight will want to get some discussion going later

 

I'd be very keen to see this.

 

Maybe you can find it on a streaming service somewhere...

 

Wait what? Keanu Reeves?

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

 

Yeah, I wasn't excited about that part. Hopefully it will still be good!

 

I will try to track it down. Will be interesting to hear what the experts have to say on the matter. For me it's been a paradigm shift of monumental proportions. Up there with colour and sound.

 

He might be talking about the advantages of flashy digital effects distracting the audience away from terrible, wooden acting.

 

I've seen this doc before and I remember it being a fascinating watch... perhaps I'll give it another go soon.

 

FYI, the program is posted as a link off of the PBS site:

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365069419/

I watched it last night and found it very interesting. Wish it had been even longer, as some things seemed to be covered too quickly and I don't remember it addressing anything about how the switch to digital affects long-term film preservation efforts.

One of my favorite little moments was when Martin Scorsese spoke almost nostalgically about memories of doing so much physical cut-and-splice editing that the tips of his fingers would get slightly bloody...sort of feeds into the romanticized view of artists suffering for their art, I guess!

Edit: Apparently the version shown on PBS is shorter than the full film released at film festivals and through some streaming/on demand services (IMDB lists the film's length as 99 minutes, but the PBS version is only an hour).

 

When I saw this last year it was definitely closer to 90 minutes. Still left me wanting more. I'll have to watch it again before I have anything more to say.

 

I know that its main focus was on digitial cinema, but the documentary actually gave me a greater appreciation of just how much GL has contributed to filmmaking. He made the first big budget film to be shot on digital, and he really pushed its merits on mostly skeptical filmmakers. He also was behind the first digital editing system, a technology that he sold that ended up being developed into the first Avid editing suites, which were a really big thing when they came out. Plus, Lucas developed one of the first advanced sound systems, and he developed the first computer special effects (Star Trek 2 and Young Sherlock Holmes), plus he sold his computer animation division to Steve Jobs, which became the industry-leading Pixar. Lucas played a role in virtually every major film innovation that I can think of.