Large Format Myths (Film Formally is back!)

Where we'd like to go into the motivations behind that video, the mechanics of how lenses work and some of the responses to that.

So we can, you know, follow up on those because a lot of interesting questions were raised.

Yeah.

And to be clear, the motivations behind that video are basically a lot of people being very publicly wrong on the internet and video essays in particular.

I mean, let's lay our cards on the table here, right? There's a lot of wrong video essays on YouTube about this subject.

I think it's worth noting that we didn't include those video essays in our video, just because I think it's...

One, it would bog the video down, frankly.

But two, I think kind of punching sideways to various other video essays is of less use than kind of pointing out when huge industry-leading cinematographic figures, such as Roger Deakins, have actually perpetuated misinformation about this, probably unknowingly, right? I don't want to assume...

malice on anyone.

I think that when we can get to those reasons that people are just organically mistaken about this.

Yeah, and that just comes from, and as you said, we'll get into this, that just comes from years of practice and experience and someone having a working understanding of their tools that just works for them in their given context.

And then when it's applied to a slightly different set of tools, it still works in terms of how they are working and what they are accomplishing in their filmmaking practice.

but it leads to them talking about it in a way that misinforms people and can lead to irrational or suboptimal decision-making behind people's creative process, right? I.e., you know, people thinking like, I wish I could get the large format look.

I better, if only I could get an IMAX 70 millimeter camera or a VistaVision camera, or, you know, I better use the full frame of my digital camera.

Otherwise I won't get that large format look.

Certainly the video is your baby, but both of us were very eager to try to dispel that misconception because most people cannot afford an IMAX 70mm camera or all the production accoutrements that surround it.

I do want to kind of contextualize this with just my own personal experience of...

I teach a lot of cinematography.

I interact with many cinematographers as a colorist, and I shoot.

And in all of those professions, I see this in action.

I see, for example, film students, hello to any film students listening to this, choosing to shoot on large format because they think it will give them a certain aesthetic quality that they cannot get any other way, and they will...

Like they will torpedo other budgetary items that will actually help them because they are overspending on what's essentially in my hot take a placebo.

And so there is this is something that is very pervasive.

There are reasons why filmmakers should not do this, but if a major new critically acclaimed release of a movie came out and a filmmaker said, yeah, this film was shot large format, then you would probably get a lot of people going, ah, of course you can tell from the look, right? Um, but you cannot actually discern a priority, um, in the vast, vast, vast majority of cases, frankly, um, whether something is large format or not large format, just from walking into a movie theater, regardless of like, whether the projection is like IMAX or 4k laser or whatever, the vast majority of the time, you cannot discern that it is a large format.

Uh, you, you, uh, you might, you might think like, no, I can tell, but like, there's, you You just can't.

Where we'd like to go into the motivations behind that video, the mechanics of how lenses work and some of the responses to that.

So we can, you know, follow up on those because a lot of interesting questions were raised.

Yeah.

And to be clear, the motivations behind that video are basically a lot of people being very publicly wrong on the internet and video essays in particular.

I mean, let's lay our cards on the table here, right? There's a lot of wrong video essays on YouTube about this subject.

I think it's worth noting that we didn't include those video essays in our video, just because I think it's...

One, it would bog the video down, frankly.

But two, I think kind of punching sideways to various other video essays is of less use than kind of pointing out when huge industry-leading cinematographic figures, such as Roger Deakins, have actually perpetuated misinformation about this, probably unknowingly, right? I don't want to assume...

malice on anyone.

I think that when we can get to those reasons that people are just organically mistaken about this.

Yeah, and that just comes from, and as you said, we'll get into this, that just comes from years of practice and experience and someone having a working understanding of their tools that just works for them in their given context.

And then when it's applied to a slightly different set of tools, it still works in terms of how they are working and what they are accomplishing in their filmmaking practice.

but it leads to them talking about it in a way that misinforms people and can lead to irrational or suboptimal decision-making behind people's creative process, right? I.e., you know, people thinking like, I wish I could get the large format look.

I better, if only I could get an IMAX 70 millimeter camera or a VistaVision camera, or, you know, I better use the full frame of my digital camera.

Otherwise I won't get that large format look.

Certainly the video is your baby, but both of us were very eager to try to dispel that misconception because most people cannot afford an IMAX 70mm camera or all the production accoutrements that surround it.

I do want to kind of contextualize this with just my own personal experience of...

I teach a lot of cinematography.

I interact with many cinematographers as a colorist, and I shoot.

And in all of those professions, I see this in action.

I see, for example, film students, hello to any film students listening to this, choosing to shoot on large format because they think it will give them a certain aesthetic quality that they cannot get any other way, and they will...

Like they will torpedo other budgetary items that will actually help them because they are overspending on what's essentially in my hot take a placebo.

And so there is this is something that is very pervasive.

There are reasons why filmmakers should not do this, but if a major new critically acclaimed release of a movie came out and a filmmaker said, yeah, this film was shot large format, then you would probably get a lot of people going, ah, of course you can tell from the look, right? Um, but you cannot actually discern a priority, um, in the vast, vast, vast majority of cases, frankly, um, whether something is large format or not large format, just from walking into a movie theater, regardless of like, whether the projection is like IMAX or 4k laser or whatever, the vast majority of the time, you cannot discern that it is a large format.

Uh, you, you, uh, you might, you might think like, no, I can tell, but like, there's, you You just can't.