2. Positives
Digital
● Widely available with a wide range of prices
and quality.
● Simple use making it more accessible.
● Shooting is less expensive than with tape.
● Easy playback.
● Very high quality High Definition.
● Film clips can easily be uploaded to hard
drives for editing or even straight up to
social media.
● Constant new advances.
● Developments in digital 3D means that it
gives short film directors another aspect to
consider.
● Small and portable.
● SD provide a huge amount of memory for a
low cost.
● Files can be replicated without loss of
quality.
Tape
● Tapes can be wiped and reused.
● Easy to watch back over.
● 16mm is inexpensive.
● Seen as traditional and overall reliable.
● Professional cameras can be rented.
● Seen as a craft to learn and gives vital
skills to cinematographers such as how
to edit and how to edit lighting.
3. Negatives
Digital
● Has to be changed to 35mm to be
displayed in cinemas.
● New advances mean that it can be
expensive to keep up with new
technologies.
Tape
● Can easily be taped over if not played forward
again.
● Defects can be on the tape, spoiling the overall
image.
● 35mm is considerably more expensive than
16mm but better quality and easier to
distribute.
● Professional cameras with tape range from
thousands to high end to hundreds for low
ends, making the budget for short film
cinematographers unrealistic.
● Bulky, heavy set up.
● A laboratory is needed to convert films.
● Has a tendency to be over or underexposed
with its broad exposure latitude making it
hard to get the right balance.
● Quality can be lost when reproduced.
4. Which one to use for our short film?
We had decided to use film for our short film. Even though digital
filmmaking is still very cheap, we have access to film tapes at no
cost. Furthermore, we feel that we do not need such a crisp image as
the organic nature of tapes adds to the character and atmosphere of
our film. We will be using Digital tape, therefore compromising
between the two. At the time of purchase, the school thought that
digital tape was a much more stable purchase as HDD (Hard Disc
Drives) could be damaged and have glitches. Unfortunately,
recording on 35mm was too expensive for the budget, so using
digital tape, we can still get the organic feel of tape, but at a better
cost and more time effective.
