What's more expensive, shooting on film or digital?
You'd think the easy answer is digital, but there are no easy answers in filmmaking.
My director friend Justin tipped me off to a blog post by Jacob Dodd at the James River Film Journal called The True Cost Of Filmmaking In The 21st century.
It makes the point that while digital may be cheaper upfront, it might not be in the longrun and might not allow you the same shot (no pun intended) at success as film.
And another salient point — and one that I personally see often — is that the DIY revolution over the past years has meant the eliminations of a lot of the checkpoints and experienced professionals that were traditionally in the video process, especially when you had to go to a tape master. Which means a lot of music videos that get delivered with varying framerates, incorrect black levels, mono audio, and lots more.
It's a good read, even if you disagree with the film advocacy, or the math.
Check it out at jamesriverfilm...
