Research question

From: David Tetzlaff (email suppressed)
Date: Thu Jan 21 2010 - 15:54:29 PST


I'm also going to have to disagree with Roger somewhat. Roger begs the
question when he says, 'until you put the film in the camera' and he ignores
the value of the time one spends thrifting or sifting eBay for cheap film
cameras that _work_. Anyone that can afford film stock and processing
probably has a computer already (and you can cut DV on computers that are
landing in the recycle bins now). Editing software? TPB! The Flip-type
cameras adjust exposure by changing shutter-speed (anyone looking for
limitation that requires a new creative direction could try that one) so
IMHO they're useless, but you can get easily find a functional DV camera for
about $200. And 60 min. of stock is under $3. I agree with the point Fred
has made earlier here that projection is the weak link in the celluloid
system, and it's significant that Benning mentions this as well. Projectors,
generally, are owned by institutions, and these days few institutions are
willing to maintain 16mm projection. A 720P 3-DLP video projector is far
from cheap, but institutions are willing to buy them and maintain them
because of their broader utility....

Perhaps, Jonathan, you might want to consider the differences between the
historic 'limitations' or 'medium specificities' of celluloid film, and the
limitations of small gauge film _today_, which is to say within that form's
obsolescence.

But I must note, for about the gazillionth time, that differences within the
'medium' of 'film' and the 'medium' of 'video' are often far wider than
differences between any specific examples of these two supposed poles. I'd
prefer that if we're going to talk about conditions and limitations we would
define mediums in narrower ways so that said conditions might be reasonably
consistent across different examples. For example, I might argue that
Roger's medium is not 'film' at all, but the travelling motion picture show
since he prefers to show his stuff in person and hauls his own projection
gear around in his car, as befits the artisanal nature of his aesthetic
enterprize.

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