Second Millennium Image Creation------ To Note CIFF2009 High
We had a conversation about this situation in the White Palace auditorium in Nanjing Arts Institute at 4 o’clock in the afternoon of October 14th.
After a brief intridution of guests attending by Wu Yuqing, the host of the discussion, CIFF curator Cao Kai stated that this fourm is something of speacial meaning. Because this is the first technological discussion forum of China Independent Film Festival. Indeed, as a filmmaker, it is impossible to ignore the influences brought by the changes in technologies. And the term “High Defition”, which is familiarized by more and more people, is already deeply rooted in the independent filmmaking field. The independent film movenment is obviously a result of never ending development and improvemnet of technolohies. If it weren’t for the popularization of DV cameras, which is brought by the filmmaking movement in the last century, filmmaking would probably still be in monopolized. How could it move towards democracy? Thus, to have a technological conversation in the sixth year of CIFF is indeed something necessary.
The first one on the floor is the high definition specialist from Panasonic China, Ltd. He gave a detailed introduction of some conceptual theories of the high definition film and technological chracteristics of the PALM high definition camera system. Also he gave a demonstration of sample visuals created by different models and compression formats, which gave everybody a vivid visual experience. Following that, a Mr. Zhang Liang also from Panasonic gave some more detailed business information. With the never ending improvemnet of compression formats, the AVCCAM formated cameras designed by Panasonic will be more reliable and re-useable. It has more space and could be used in more fields. Within that, HPX300D series assemble even more advanced technologiues. From the lens of the camera, to recording, and even to output, the series all adopt 1920*1080 resolution, broadband recording and 14bit sampling, and achieve filter-free, complete bandwidth and hi-def original image quality. This will guarantee the perfect recordation of all the exciting and spetacular moments. Following that, some directors even had even a discussion with the technology specialists on the topic of issues and problems they had encountered in the process of recording with Panasonic cameras. Questions such as noise reduction, which everybody cares about were answered by the specialists.
In the other segment of the discussion, directors exchanged their ideas and experiences after praticing with high definition technologies through the form of free discussion. Since most directors attending the forum are independent film directors, university professors and students who have had experiences utilizing hi-def technologies, this is undoutedly a very exciting opportunity of discussion. Everybody expressed their reflections and thoughts, hoping to receive suggestions and ideas from colleagues specialists and experienced users.
Independent film director Wang Liren spoke first. He seemed modest and admitted that he didn't investigate much in cameras. Different from the SONY PD150 camera from previous films, he used Canon HD camera for the film “Tattoo” this year. Director Ying Liang has a profound realization in the improvements of cameras. Compared to image quality, content of the film is what he seeks more obviously. However he still shared lessons he learned during processes of filmmaking, such as how recording HD format videos with miniDV tape does a lot of damage to cameras, and warned new users to be careful.
Professor Xu Xiang from Nanjing Arts Institute has had much practice and experience in filmmaking. He had much to offer when he talked about the experience of making a high definition short “Taxi” with the students. As for student works, it is more convenient to use simpler equipments for less expenses. For example, when shooting night scenes, the requiremnt for lighting is fairly high. They cleverly utilized lamps and energy saving lights to aid lighting, and the result was not too bad. After that two editing and shooting students briefly introduced their experiences with high definition cameras. Liu Ying, a student from Communication Univeristy of China-Nanjing talked about the experience she had when shooting short videos with her schoolmates. Their spirit for pursuing better things brings a light to the future of indepdent films in everybody’s heart.
Last person speaking, Huang Zhengyang, was the cameraman of “Cruise Wonderland”. He briefly talked about the experience and process of shooting in Suzhou, especially the realization of cameras being lighter and easier to control. He thinks that even though the process was difficult, to be able to present the work to the audience perfectly is already a great satisfaction.
As images of 2nd millennium, what is crucial for the success of a work? The concept the film conveys, visuals and audios have all become desicive elements of the audience. But please do not forget, to every independent filmmaker, to be able to express what he or she wants to say to the audience through images, is already the greated success. Of couse, technology is more like the wings of the images. It carries us to fly further and higher, and makes us wonder…