A Theory on Film Theory

Late last night, I took a walk around Washington Square Park. I do this often when I can't sleep, which, sadly is also a regular occurrence. While wondering the dark streets of Greenwitch Village, I started thinking about all that I've been reading, regarding lenses, and censor size, and depth of field, and picture resolution. This inevitably brought me to film theory, or rather film standards.

Standards, we are all bound and guided by standards in one way or another, and the same is true for film. With all the new technology blooming for digital film making, the industry is more or less still trying to live up to the expectations set by 35mm film cameras. I like old school 35mm movies. I like the texture of the image, and the high contrast, but I often find myself thinking, is that really better?

With the advent of HD, image quality has become unbelievable clear. Colors are vivid, and with a deep depth of field, you can see detail in the background of a football game. I spent most of my walk wondering why, with this technology, we are trying to meet the standard set by what is seemingly a lesser technology, rather then trying to create a new standard. Again, I do actually prefer the look of 35mm over digital films, because, well thats what I grew up with, I just think it would be interesting to see a new standard set.