Well. This John Belton fellow is pretty opinionated, ain't he?!
After reading the article "Looking through Video," it's pretty clear that Belton doesn't think video can measure up to film, and that the emergence of video has impacted cinema more negatively than positively.
I think his main points are plausible; there can be huge differences in quality, capability, and experience. However, I do think that video (as in videotape and television) has advanced greatly since the time when Belton wrote this article. The way film is used is very different than the way video is used. Yes, critic, I hear you. "Don't they both record images/sounds? Aren't they both primarily making movies?" (And first of all, I don't even know how to define "movie" because before reading this article I interchanged "film" and "video" from time to time, which, apparently, might send me to a Filming School Principal's office.) Primarily, however, the purpose for film is to make feature movies... 'cinema'... grand elaborate sequences of scenes, complete with soundtracks and popcorn munchin' heads. The process is going to be more physical because the time constraints allow it, the editing is a huge part of this. Digital video, on the other hand, is compared to television broadcasts. Obviously, in these instances, the time constraints allow little time for editing, and efficiency overrules effectiveness. Television editing is going to be much different than film editing, as much of it is done during the recording process. Newscasts especially. If video allows this type of immediacy, a return on a short time period, this is definitely going to be choice for those that need efficiency, a news broadcaster, a sitcom producer that's expected to have another hour episode each week.
I don't think video is necessarily a threat to film. Film is continually changing, yes, and the cleaner and safer technology becomes the more it will be used within the film-making process, but I believe the two will remain separate for quite some time yet. In the meantime, I'll continue to enjoy both.
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