The Digital Film Manifesto
Thu, 01/12/2006 - 13:17 — Waldo
Chris LaMont, independent filmmaker, co-founder of the Phoenix Film Festival, faculty member at Arizona State University�s School of Theatre and Film, and friend has put together 10 Dogma-like principals he called The Digital Film Manifesto, which are as follows:
THE DV DOCTRINE
by Chris LaMont
A Mandate to Digital Filmmakers of all Experience Levels
- Digital filmmaking is the art form of the 21st century and must be treated with the same respect as analog film.
- Film is a Verb. A film refers to the act of filming, and not the medium used to tell the story.
- Storyboards and/or shot lists must be used at all times. No longer will the ease of the digital medium allow directors to �make things up� on the spot.
- The Director must also be an Editor of the project, working hands-on with digital editing tools to create their cut.
- Handheld camerawork must be restricted to one shot for every five minutes of finished material. All other movement must be facilitated from a tripod, dolly, jib arm, crane or other mechanical means. Pans, tilts, and zooms are allowed.
- On-camera microphones are forbidden. Good audio is vital to the success of the film and bad audio is embarrassing. You can only use external microphones, boom, handheld, lavalier, etc.
- Natural lighting, interior or exterior, without enhancement, is strictly forbidden. Proper Filters, Lenses, Lighting, Bounce Cards and other Artificial means of enhancing the image must be used at all times.
- Students will no longer film on 35mm, 16mm, Super 16mm, Super 8mm or 8 mm formats. Analog film is meant for film professionals who have the dollars and experience to spend and waste.
- Directing a feature film without directing five short films is strictly forbidden. Ease of digital accessibility creates unwatchable features that bore friends, family and unfortunate film festival judges that must suffer through amateur filmmaking.
- Refer to a film�s budget as either �greater or less than $1 million dollars.� Budget is not indicative of a good film. (see �The Island�)
ALL FILMMAKERS WHO SUBSCRIBE TO THE DIGITAL DOCTRINE MUST PUT �MADE UNDER THE DV DOCTRINE� IN THEIR CREDITS.
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Comments
Re: The Digital Film Manifesto
1. Digital is a *medium* not an art form. MOVIES are the art form. The recording medium is immaterial to the audience's experience of the artwork.
2. "Film" refers to celluloid. "Movie" or "Motion Picture" is the word you're looking for.
3. Requiring shot lists or storyboards is as exclusive and limiting as requiring all musicians to read music. Storyboards and shotlists (what about floorplans?) are tools that are preferred by some and disdained by others. Playing by your artistic style doesn't make someone an artist.
4. You should see THE CUTTING EDGE, and hear how a few people like Spielberg and Scorcese disagree wtih you on this point.
5. Another arbitrary restriction to meet your aesthetic requirements. Wholly without merit. Hand-held is just a tool, just part of the vocabulary. There should be no rule against it, any more than there should be a rule against iambic pentameter.
6. If an artist has a camera, let them make the best movie they can, with what they have.
7. Arbitrary. Ansel Adams took some pretty good pictures without a bounce card.
8. Arbitrary. It's like forbidding people from writing music in F-sharp-minor. If you can cover your costs on 35mm, why not shoot on it?
9. Mostly agree, but if you have a vision for a feature and you can complete it, do it now.
10. Yeah, that's gonna happen.
ALL FILMMAKERS WHO SUBSCRIBE TO THE DIGITAL DOCTRINE MUST PUT "SHEEP-LIKE FOLLOWER OF ARBITRARY STANDARDS" IN THEIR CREDITS
Re: The Digital Film Manifesto
Wow! i'm trying that very same doctrine combined with Guerilla Filmmaking. lol lol
Re: The Digital Film Manifesto
WOW, this is the biggest bunch of nonsense I've read in a long time.
2. Actually, film IS the medium, as well as the act of filming. I'm only on Rule #2, and things are already looking bad.
3. This is just complete BS. Why would "making things up on the spot" necessarily be a bad thing? This is a completely personal artistic choice, and choosing one way or another does not make a film better or worse.
4. This one I tend to agree with, though not in all cases.
5. One handheld shot for every five minutes of footage? I read that line over and over again, and I am completely baffled. How did the writers come to the conclusion that this was an intelligent artistic standard? Sounds like something they pulled out of thin air to me.
6. Gotta agree with BugMeNot. If you have a camera and a vision, then make your movie. It's as simple as that.
7. Natural light's a pretty beautiful thing. There's no reason that the artistic choice shouldn't be made to shoot without the use of artificial light.
8. This all but declares that film is dead. There are some non-professionals out there who can afford the cost of film. If you are one of them (I am not), by all means, shoot on film. And please explain to me how one becomes an "experienced professional" without first gaining experience... and shooting on film?
9. How about "Directing a feature film without directing some short films is not encouraged?" Why FIVE short films? Do you just like this number? Who says five short films is the right standard for EVERYONE? I agree, it's a risky move... but why discourage ambition?
10. Yes, budget is not indicative of a good film... so why even make it an issue??
DV Manifesto
we all like playing with the ten commandments ideas, so what's new with this one?
A Mandate to Digital Filmmakers of all Experience Levels
Digital filmmaking is the art form of the 21st century and must be treated with the same respect as analog film.
-----fair enough... kudos to the mag tape
Film is a Verb. A film refers to the act of filming, and not the medium used to tell the story.
-----plus, it's easier to use as a verb... semantic drift is OK, no?
Storyboards and/or shot lists must be used at all times. No longer will the ease of the digital medium allow directors to �make things up� on the spot.
-----preparation is a good thing, but part of the joy of digital is the performance like feel of shooting. So this rule seems counter productive.
The Director must also be an Editor of the project, working hands-on with digital editing tools to create their cut.
-----I actually strongly agree with this. Director+editor = filmmaker (analogy is to a musical composer)
Handheld camerawork must be restricted to one shot for every five minutes of finished material. All other movement must be facilitated from a tripod, dolly, jib arm, crane or other mechanical means. Pans, tilts, and zooms are allowed.
-----this is bollocks. shoot however you want
On-camera microphones are forbidden. Good audio is vital to the success of the film and bad audio is embarrassing. You can only use external microphones, boom, handheld, lavalier, etc.
-----gemberally agree... if possible keep the instance of direct sound.
Natural lighting, interior or exterior, without enhancement, is strictly forbidden. Proper Filters, Lenses, Lighting, Bounce Cards and other Artificial means of enhancing the image must be used at all times.
-----Irrelevant. Very suspicious of the word 'Proper'... white card for bounce is fine, as is flashlight illumination a la Blair Witch.
Students will no longer film on 35mm, 16mm, Super 16mm, Super 8mm or 8 mm formats. Analog film is meant for film professionals who have the dollars and experience to spend and waste.
-----this is just a fact of life... but you can still use film for its own qualities (e.g. in the vein of Brakhage) for under $100 per short film.
Directing a feature film without directing five short films is strictly forbidden. Ease of digital accessibility creates unwatchable features that bore friends, family and unfortunate film festival judges that must suffer through amateur filmmaking.
-----the price of open access is also a slew of bad films. so what. For a filmmaker, it's nevertheless a good idea to shoot at least ONE short piece, just so you don't act like a total fool on a bigger and potentially more damaging project.
Refer to a film�s budget as either �greater or less than $1 million dollars.� Budget is not indicative of a good film. (see �The Island�)
-----again, not very important, and what is a budget anyway? Kusturica's 'Underground' 'cost $14M... but supported an extended family of 200 artists for over 2 years... so where's the crime?
ALL FILMMAKERS WHO SUBSCRIBE TO THE DIGITAL DOCTRINE MUST PUT �MADE UNDER THE DV DOCTRINE� IN THEIR CREDITS.
-----no thanks
student reaction against DOGMA manifesto
I teach in a film program and some students react badkly to the perceived 'poverty' of the Dogma outlook. This reverse manifesto was therefore drwan up... makes for interesting reading, and is really hard to follow in practice. Enjoy:
AmGod
Being Dogma in reverse
Enough is enough! For too long, arty-farty filmmakers and dry-as-bones theorists have been telling us we cannot make films without an aesthetic or ethical base. For too long they have been telling us to trust our experience and cut our coat according to our cloth. Well, we say FIE! And hereby declare in this AMGOD Manifesto that we will do whatsoe’er we will, wherever is our wont and for as much as we deem it shall cost! and put forward the following ten commandments to guide the faint of heart:
1 Shooting must be done on sets. If locations must be used, they should be ‘spoiled’ somehow by the introduction of one glaring artificial element.
2 Sound and Image must be recorded separately and then mixed using even more sources.
3 The camera must always be on a tripod and never moved unless very smooth and expensive equipment (we need to see the receipts!) can be used. Cranes, tracks, zip wires and virtual cameras are all acceptable.
4 The film must either be in black and white, or if in color, it must be tweaked and treated to render the original tones unrecognizable.
5 Furthermore, each individual shot must have its own filters and optical correction added. If possible there should be several CGI elements added to each shot. If for some unfathomable reason the director does not wish for any aliens, spacecraft, dragons, fire, smoke, gunshot tracer bullets, robots, dead actors, cartoon characters or car parts to be flying across the screen, he or she must add many photo-realistic effects (e.g. CGI babies) to the original frame.
6 The plot of the film must be sensational, need not be believable and should just be full of gripping action. Murders, torture, rape etc. etc. are to be encouraged.
7 You cannot make a film in the present day, set in or around where you live. Go for space, hell, magical realms or nameless basements and pre-history.
8 All films are genre films.
9 You may film in any format except 35mm. Video is OK, but 4K HD P video is best.
10 The director must put his or her name on at least FIVE separate titles on the LONG credits to the film.
Right!
Off you go!
Funny
hehehe
W