I have a profound interest in disruptive technologies… in predicting… watching the industrial, social and economic effects of revolutionary technological “advancements”. I equate it to a scientist in a lab coat watching a H-bomb explosion in slow motion with the task of analysing and categorizing the destructive capacity, and the short, medium and long term fallout.
The digital revolution in cinema/television/video has brought about some real madness, mad sheep disease I think because it affects sheep… which constitute the vast majority of the new-blood digital cinema “workforce”, on the image acquisition side and the post production side. I’m tired of it, and while I cannot change anything with a blog, I can notice it, call it what it is and disassociate myself from it as a professional and a artist.
This madness is a trend that is not limited to digital cinema, the madness is spreading to all kinds of industries but requires a special set of circumstances to breed and become an epidemic.
In fact I would go as far as saying the entertainment industry itself at it’s highest levels has become contaminated, and I for one have had enough.
Some may call it democracy… access for all, but I call it dishonest opportunism… and it costs real professionals their jobs and livelihoods. You don’t give a 18 year old kid with a fresh driving license a Porsche as his training wheels and yet that’s what has happened in this industry. I’m seeing a whole lot of carnage as a result… real people who have worked harder than anyone that are losing their living, stuck with a skill set that has become obsolete or worthless.
There’s a few examples I want to use. The first is the D.I.T., the Digital Imaging Technician. When Red Digital Cinema started shipping the Red One, suddenly there became a huge market demand for digital imaging technicians… and there weren’t any. A new technology had created a new job description overnight at the level of a traditional experienced camera assistant and it was open to anyone with I.T. skills willing to take on the acronym regardless of experience.
So, a vacuum was opened up, and suddenly there were D.I.T.’s… where did they all come from? Like a land run, where free titles were being awarded to the first suckers to stake their claim in the ground, a stampede of young and inexperienced opportunists armed with a Macbook downloaded the freely available tools, some sample media and read up the lingo… and so became D.I.T.’s.
If a “D.I.T.” could talk the talk… with enough confidence, they could talk their way into almost any shoot… because producers, line producers, D.P.’s… nobody had a cooking clue what any of the jargon meant, how these cameras worked or what to do with the data.
These fly by night opportunists… who would otherwise be cutting their home movies on pirated software, had access… access to free tools, to free information (the Reduser forum was a pretty good school) and because the technology and workflow was intuitive enough to this type of mind, these young nobodies were suddenly on film sets, right by the camera, earning daily rates that many on set could only dream of after many years of ladder climbing.
By now, many of them are legitimately qualified… their training has been on the job, but the traditional hierarchy to a profession in a highly regarded industry was turned on it’s head.
Camera assistants, loaders, and D.P.s stunned in horror and disbelief that such a thing was possible now had to catch up with the technology or risk being made redundant… which was a very real threat when Canon launched the 5D MkII.
Now we have sheep with large format cameras that cost a fraction of the $25,000 for a basic Red One setup.
The low to mid level videographer is no longer a viable profession in my opinion, and neither is a low to mid level editor… because everyone with a DSLR and a iMac is both. The barriers to entry have been demolished and the noise floor has risen. If you want to be paid… it had better be because you can deliver far beyond the norm… and that is harder than ever.
In my opinion this awful trend has become an expected norm… the new modus operandi for an entire industry and it’s soul has been lost… at least for a period of time, without a mention or acknowledgement of it’s passing.
Take the recent explosion of stereoscopy for instance. I have largely ignored it because I saw it coming and knew what it was… dishonest opportunism masked as art. The technology was the catalyst but the insatiable appetite for greed in a panic stricken industry amidst the worst economic decline in it’s history has really been something to behold.
The number of self proclaimed D.I.T.’s who suddenly became overnight steroscopy experts has been an astounding thing to watch… I think the only real qualification was to know what the word stereoscopy meant, or be able to pronounce it properly but if you could set up a impressive website or blog as well, man… that was proof. It was another perfect opportunity for a generation of desperate techno con men to make a lot of money from a stupid slow moving animal that is slowly bleeding itself to death to these parasites.
The only winners are the blood sucking technology manufacturers. They are the real culprits because they sell to the producers and the consumers. The companies making and selling the latest cameras and 3D flat screen TV’s in higher quantities and cheaper than ever are the only winners.
The rest of us… all of us are losers.
That’s my glass is half empty view of where things are at but that’s not where it ends.
There is a ray of sunshine, a opportunity for a select few to turn the tables and rise to great heights. This dream that many of us “filmmakers” pursue is still a game, it always has been and the game is not over. For those who have what it takes to stand out, the playing field could not look better.
I’m looking out over a vast and endless sea of losers, losers who are all capable of producing good work but won’t be able to earn a cent from it. The expectation has risen… the 35mm cinema look is now expected, a fantastic cut… expected, good lighting and creative cinematography… expected.
Many… the majority won’t be able to rise above it because that’s all they have. The tools were given to them overnight, and access to the “high end” look that is becoming the norm has been brought down to everyone’s modest abilities. This is now the lowest common denominator… it’s the floor.
For those that can push higher… above the floor, in creative imagery… in storytelling, there is great and fantastic opportunity with none of the traditional barriers to entry.
The real top level professionals have nothing to worry about, and will always be in demand because it is their art that is in demand… their voice, not their cheap tools.
For those creatives that can put it all together and go beyond there are real rewards, because they are the same rare and valuable assets to the industry that they have always been… to producers and also to an expansive audience that is rapidly becoming de-sensitized to the glossy 35mm “film look” and clever post production.
The audience will soon demand more, and if you take steps to position yourself as a creative that can deliver much more, not just lean on the crutch of your 5D MkII you will be a long term winner and build a life long career.
If you’re leaning on your tools right now… you may have a small window to make a quick buck… but playtime will soon be over. You must know that every new DSLR sold is reducing your market value, every new copy of Final Cut installed is reducing your market value… and it’s already almost zero.
It’s not a career, you are not becoming a cinematographer, or a editor, you saw a vacuum and you ran to fill it like all the other sheep.
Just because you have a camera does not make you a photographer. You are not your camera, your camera is not you… you need to be more… you need to see subject matter, create, craft and tell story… and I’m afraid those skills cannot be bought or pirated.
That is the only barrier to entry any of us need to worry about because it’s no longer about the technology… the technology is nothing… less than nothing.
) and aimed at being powerhouses for Final Cut Pro, Da Vinci Resolve, Adobe Creative Suite, and a host of 3D apps… these are Creation Stations.
