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Showing posts with the label Digital video

Film vs. Digital Video

Okay so the debate has raged on for so long that there are converts on both sides. Coming from a film background I happen to like the digital video. Like I always said tape is cheap, film isn't. The other day I came across a article in Government video by Wayne Cole. The title of the article was " The impact of compact ", and he had some things to say that I've been concerned about, and why I still haven't abandoned film. To boil it all down the article dealt with resolution of DV cameras. This included DV, HDV and XD CAM HD. To quote the article: "Video resolution is related to the luminance bandwidth in the recorded signal. Smaller imagers capture less light and therefore less resolution. Lossy compression formats like DV, HD, and XD CAM HD are based on throwing out high-frequency information that will be least noticed by the human eye. In other words resolution is sacrificed in the hopes that viewers will not notice." This is what has always bothered ...

Open Water (2003)

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What can I say about a film shot on DV and made for about 180K. Open Water is an interesting film about two vacationers getting stuck in the open sea. The film is 79 minutes and it felt even that was too long. Don't get me wrong the film is wonderfully produced, and it brings a certain reality to it that makes it frightening, but as one reviewer said "An expertly made suspense thriller based on an actual incident, but on a visceral level it's about as much fun as watching someone pull the wings off a butterfly". That little blurb says it all. I came away from the film drained, and yes I did use the fast forward button. I know how could I, but in my defense there are some scenes in the film that seemed to be just filler. I mean if I really wanted to I could make this film shorter, and still be effective. It's a one gimmick film, and when our two protagonists are finally on the water I was hoping that the film would kick in, but it never does. Open Water is a small ...