EP7: DP Named, Shot on 35mm Film - Not Digital

By Adam Pawlus — Thursday, August 22, 2013

While the director is all about a film's vision, the Director of Photography is a role that helps provide the film's personality.  Cameras, film stock, angles, and a keen eye do wonders for the look of a movie and for our next Star Wars film, for Episode VII Lucasfilm and J.J. Abrams have selected Dan Mindel (Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness) for the job.  Read more in this Mashable article.  I took the liberty of consulting our resident film expert for an illustration of what this means.  She provided this mock-up, although I must admit I do not know if she's taking this announcement seriously.

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More surprising and frankly more exciting was the announcement that the film will not be shot on digital, but rather 35mm Kodak film!  Since most films are shot and projected digitally these days, this may afford a rare opportunity for theaters (and moviegoers) to seek out or request actual film projectors, which are increasingly rare in this era. 

Back in 2002, many of us had to seek out the rare theater showing Attack of the Cloens in a then-new and state-of-the-art digital projection room.  In 2015, we may be making a similar pilgrimage to see the movie on actual celluloid, but unless you own the theater and your name is Michael Moore or Quentin Tarintino, this may not be possible unless you guys start standing up and demanding it now.  Think of this as the movie equivalent of buying a vinyl LP over listening to a high-quality .wav or .MP3 album.

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