Octoberfest: The Evolution of the Below-the-Line Training Cycle and the End-to-End Digital Workflow...
This month we focus on understanding the evolving below-the-line training cycle and the newer end-to-end digital work flow as it relates to acquisition and post. The traditional training cycle of below-the-line technicians has slowly eroded over the last ten years. Now the older cusp of the game generation in their mid-thirties have recently entered their productive years as journeyman technicians and content creators. These technicians and artists came up in an infrastructure married to film but sleeping with video, an infrastructure infiltrated more and more by electronic acquisition and digital post - a result itself of the explosion of world wide cable and the desire to stem the rising cost of production. A corollary of this would also translate to the growing outsourcing of production and post, and the changing nature and aesthetic of content in the form of both docu-dramas, generated by professionals and users alike, and advanced CGI.
I remember having the opportunity to compare formative experiences with Dedo Wingert, inventor of the dedo light, at a lighting expo one rainy winter night in New York City in 2000. No one showed at the event except myself and a few other below-the-line technicians. This fact alone is important to note. One executive at a prominent rental house in New York City recently mentioned to me that attendance at seminars has been declining over the last few years. This phenomena, according to elder technicians, is evidence of the arrogance of today's younger generation. After listening to Wigert talk of his traditional film apprenticeship, I couldn't help but feel inadequate.
Ultimately, the generational myopia and phenomena alluded to above are symptomatic of larger forces and better understood in context: These are the advance of digital post and acquisition technologies, the evolution of the below-the-line training cycle and infrastructure, the emerging ethos of the game generation and its influence on culture and business, and finally both globalization and the creative economy as it relates to media and entertainment.
Today digital cinematography and digital end-to-end workflows are reaching critical mass. The culture war I came up in between film and "video" has given way to hybrid projects with newer digital formats that incorporate the best of both worlds. The change is liberating for me because I am a member of the game generation and the newer tools are more natural to my sensibilities, even as they complicate the creative process with an increase in variables that influence image quality along the digital supply chain.
Rather than inundate you with a dissertation on these matter I have decided to break my thoughts down and post them in easily digestible gruel (just kidding!) courses. By months end you shall understand why monkey brains are a delicacy. And lucky for you, the meal will be topped by an even better desert in the form of pod cast conversations with highly respected below-the-line technicians.
Here's are planned stops along the topic route:
I. The Creative Economy
II. Creativity is Expensive and Time Consuming
III. The Creative Factory - a. Globalization and Convergence, b. Outsourcing Production and Post
IV. The Horizontal Labor Market - a. Culture of Tradesmen vs. Culture of Technicians, b. Art at the fringe vs. Creativity as Mainstream
IV. The Cultural Ethos of The Game Generation - a. Generational Myopia and Culture War, b. Evolving Nature and Aesthetic of Content
V. The Digital Work Flow
I found this piece very thought provoking. A Film maker, teacher, and film school grad - I find people are inspired to make films because something is so captivating it makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. For me it was the first time I saw Truffaut's 400 Blows. The second when you see something so dreaful you swear that you can do better, your kids could do better, your dog could do better - like those slasher movies we used to see at the Drive ins or the dialogue on most TV Sit coms or Porn Movies. My outlet was writing - so I'd usually keep a copy of Days of Heaven or La Strada close by for inspiration. I find less and less out there that inspires active creativity. Maybe its age, but risk taking is at a low in filmmaking. The envelope for outrageous has been pushed as far as it can go (I know I'll live to regret that as someone always finds a new watermark) but they're already pushing the NC 17 Rating. Secondly, I'm experiencig a lack of excitement in experiencing something new and different. Time is so filled that I feel I am getting safer in my choices of what films, TV or videos I choose to focus on.
Is this the malaise of "too much choice" as suggested in Toffler's Future Shock? Possibly.
With kids, the time and focus on gaming is good - but it creates an energy comfort zone that is passive. Thus, getting them off their chair and behind a camera is a shift of energy that is indicative of a generation of kids that are overweight, inactive, and not physically dexterious. Handling equipment requires motor skills and some competitiveness to master skills - and as fewer and fewer kids participate in sports that physicality is sacrificed. I also think Video is so forgiving that kids, wanting to make a film, can get a good image without lighting or focusing. At the other end, video is so bland (sorry but especially high def) that its now exceedingly difficult to work with it and give it texture, or any kind of artistic signature. If you give 100 monkeys a high def camera 95 will come back with something that looks more or less like a soap opera.
Finally I read once that at 24fps the brain reacts in an active mode. However at 30 fps the brain is passive. Thus most of the gaming, internet, and vido cause passive viewing rather than active. I think there is something worth further investivation.
P,
Your comments would make for an interesting podcast interview about the evolving aesthetic of film and television. Perhaps I will have that fortunate opportunity with you.
I have to admit that I am more accepting and excited about the work of the younger generation, but your take is interesting and provocative to me nonetheless.
Alexa