AboutHyunjin Jo Expertise Questions related to the business and production of movies, especially independent feature and short films, including screenwriting questions.
Purely technical questions will be rejected, but possibly passed onto the main question pool.
Experience Motion Picture Writer, Director and Producer. Sundance Institute Lab Finalist. Production (including scripts) and Entertainment Career Consultant, Motivational Speaker and Panelist.
Education/Credentials New York University Tisch School of the Arts
Expert: Hyunjin Jo Date: 6/25/2008 Subject: short films Digital Vs. 35mm
Question Do most film festivals (competitions) accept digital films? And if so why would someone want to shoot a short film in say 35 mm if it is so much more expensive and there really aren’t many ways to make money back off of shorts. Are there some big competitions that still don’t accept digital? Is it just for the resolution?
Thank you for your time
Luis
Answer Hi Luis,
Regarding film festivals, the main issue is that DIGITAL PROJECTORS are still quite expensive and because of this, many film festivals don't own or don't have a digital project to use to screen "films." Many film festivals are only financial able to only accept film submissions because of this situation.
For example, in all of the Los Angeles area, I believe there is only 4-6 screens at a few different theaters that actually has a digital projection system in place. Considering how many screens are located in Los Angeles, that makes it only about 1% that are able to screen a digital project. So, on a distribution standpoint--it still makes sense right now for all the studios and independents to shot film (because most film festivals still require a digital film to be blown up to film in order to be screened and/or have more options for screening times/locations).
However, despite the costs, since the year 2000, many of the major film festivals have been screening some of their programs digitally.
In 2001, Sundance screening 30 films digitally (a considerable increase from the year before) and the Toronto Film Festival is one of the leaders of the film festival digital presentations. You would have to check all the film festival current submission rules, to see what their requirements/acceptance of digitals films are, because it is constantly changing from year to year and I'm sure next year there will be even more than they had this year.
Regarding the choice of someone choosing film over a digital medium--a lot of that comes to personal choice.
All the short projects I have ever directed have been shot on 35mm and none have played at a film festivals, but all have received distribution (been sold). So, the choice to use film over digital has nothing to do with film festivals for me. I chose film, because it was actually cheaper to do so. Because the rental price for the digital 24P camera that would be comparable to the 35mm camera was quite more expensive. It is all of question of supply and demand. Demand is up, but there aren't that many cameras (just like there aren't that many screens) in comparison to 35mm cameras, so the 24P digital cameras that are available tend to be more expensive.
With the onslaught of people being interested in digital filmmaking, it is actually making 35mm cameras and accessories much cheaper to acquire. So, it just comes to your producer and budget to see if makes sense with the added production costs (film, etc.) and post-production costs (telecine, etc.) whether it makes sense to shoot digital or 35mm. In all my past projects 35mm made more sense. But, it is always a creative choice based up on the story/subject matter and then a financial consideration (including the financial consideration of distribution options) on which medium suits best for the project. And therefore, my next project maybe shot digitally or 35mm based on those factors.
I hope this helps to answer your thoughts on this subject.
Thank you for submitting your question and good luck on all of your future endeavors.
