Marc Wielage Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 Happened sooner than I expected: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/story/2012-01-19/Kodak-bankruptcy/52660342/1 I know some of the newer soundies might say "who cares, we're all shooting digital now anyway?", but it's still sad -- the end of an era. I'm hoping maybe Fuji will buy the assets and prop the old girl up for awhile longer. Film won't disappear overnight, but I think the empire is continuing to tumble on down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nika paniashvili Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 being a newer soundie I must say that properly executed film workflow is easier to deal with than a digital gogogo style gig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundtrane Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 Truly sad... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Blankenship Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 I am quite saddened by the news. I mourn the passing of Kodak's importance to our world from several perspectives: Location sound when shooting on film: The sound department gets to be The Sound Department. We don't have to anguish over trying to convince a producer that our double-system sound is better than what the flavor-of-the-day digital wonder can capture. With an Arri 16BL sitting on my storeroom shelves: There's something so rewarding about the tactile sense of handling celluloid -- the actual physical material that's going to carry our captured images forward. Sitting in a theater enjoying stunning images: "It looks just like film" is still the holy grail of digital film-making, but NOTHING looks more like film, than film. Piles of pictures lying in drawers: From early Brownie cameras to expensive 35mm outfits with a host of lenses and multiple bodies, film has been there documenting our lives, loves, happiness, sorrows, community, family, and progress. Although the instant gratification of digital is well-aligned to current mindsets, the excitement of getting a stack of pictures back at the drugstore and, standing there, re-living pleasant memories as I do a quick shuffle from print to print, is indelible. Kodak has been a dominate part of our culture and memories for all of our entire lives. Re-structured, they will likely live on in some form or another, but an era -- one documented in gorgeous Kodachrome -- has just passed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundtrane Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 I don't know about others, but I for one am going to lose some sleep over this one... What kind of a world is it going to be WITHOUT film??? Oh man... What is with our great filmmakers? And producers? Don't they know a film workflow is more efficient and eventually cost-effective - even the CAS (Camera Assessment Series) from ASC had the Producers Guild and others on it saying this. I heard it from the horse's mouth out here in Bombay, India 3 years ago! Are they all going to sit at home and say 'shit happens' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelo Waldron Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 So sad....does this mean we can't have the Kodak Picture spots at Disneyland? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted January 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 "It looks just like film" is still the holy grail of digital film-making, but NOTHING looks more like film, than film. Man, I've been saying that for 10 years. It's interesting: a lot of the Red fanboys are crowing about this on the RedUser group, but I suspect most of the ones who are gloating have never shot film in their lives. They don't know what they're missing. One of the best things about shooting on film was that it was a great insurance in case of mistakes -- either by the weather, by an assistant, or by the cinematographer. If you're off a stop or two, chances are, they could probably salvage it. I'm reminded of a major studio comedy about 7-8 years ago that I worked on, where they discovered a $250,000 scene was shot about 2 stops under. We were able to rescue the scene with all kinds of digital tricks and processing, and nobody cared or noticed. Can't do that in digital. Once it's above or below a certain point, the picture is gone. A decade ago, when I worked for a Kodak division, I had a meeting with a marketing VP where I almost begged him to put out T-shirts for NAB and SMPTE shows that said "I Look Better On Kodak Film." I still say it's a good idea -- and it's true, too. (Sort of a take-off of Frank Scibella's slogan!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted October 10, 2012 Report Share Posted October 10, 2012 A last hurrah for Kodak: " Eastman Kodak Company is this year’s recipient of the Philo. T. Farnsworth Award for its long history of contributions to the television industry, among which are innovation and leadership in image capture, processing and manipulation. Known as “the filmmaker’s film maker,” Kodak has also made many significant contributions that ushered in television production’s digital age. " and other Technical Emmy's at: http://www.emmys.com/articles/olivia-munn-hbos-newsroom-host-64th-primetime-emmy-engineering-awards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bilagaana Posted October 11, 2012 Report Share Posted October 11, 2012 The eventual demise of 'The Great Yellow Father'. No more scratches, burns or chatter. I'll miss the smell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Woodcock Posted October 22, 2012 Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 They are also wrapping up their printer business, guess what I bloodly well bought :-/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted October 22, 2012 Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 Interesting, as Panavision is pushing its latest Millennium models incl XL (no TC, takes too much room) as the audience is wondering if the film stock will be available for them... BTW, camera bodies as old as 35 years were used in filming Trouble with the Curve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark LeBlanc Posted October 22, 2012 Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 The thing I miss most about film is not F'ing around with resetting takes, going back to one as my poor boom op struggles to stay out the shot during these 15 min yak-a-thons.. Quick action - Quick Sticks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted October 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 One thing I'll say about shooting on film: you can rent the camera bodies dirt cheap. I won't mention the name of the company, but I know a major LA camera rental house that has about 200 35mm cameras sitting on the shelves, gathering dust, and they're extremely aggressive about wanting to rent them out. Try to rent a hot digital camera, and they're all out. Lenses, you can get for either film or video -- the best ones fit both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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