Abstract TNS 2

Abstract
Digital cinema: The transformation of film practice and aesthetics argues that digital cinema creates a new freedom in film making, and an intimacy between the actors and director that was never achieved with the older 35mm Hollywood style film technology.
Adam Ganz and Lina Khatib paint an evolutionary path for digital cinema citing Jerry Lewis first use of video assist and Francis Ford Coppola’s Silverfish remote television van as ground breaking technology that enabled directors to use real time choices in their creative ventures. Also, the introduction of smaller and more intimate digital camera equipment unleashed creative alternatives not available to the common Iranian film makers.
According to Ganz and Khatib, the new digital cinema, with its low technology impact and fewer lighting requirements allows the actors be more spontaneous and improves the actor’s ability for improvisation.
The authors successfully demonstrate the effectiveness of digital cinema with two Iranian films, Ten and 20 Fingers. The film makers feel with their new found technological advance they can create “a cinema without a story”. In addition the Iranian director of Ten, Abbas Kiaostami was able to use a high shooting ratio to capture his actor’s improvisation, usually unattainable with the high cost of 35mm film.
To base eight pages of academic work without mentioning that Ten and 20 Fingers was shot using a DV video camera was a disservice to the reader and the authenticity of this scholarly article. On the other hand, Adam Ganz and Lina Khatib wrote an engaging article. If I were a film maker living in Iran I would applaud the directors of Ten and 20 Fingers for creating cinema with the help of a single DV video camera, thereby evading the constraints of Iranian censors.
Bibliography

Ganz, Adam., and Khatib, Lina. “Digital cinema: The transformation of film practice and aesthetics.” New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film Volume 4 Number 1 2006