Side by Side

An immensely intriguing tour of the evolution of filmmaking process in the cinematic medium over the years, Side by Side is a side by side comparison of the two formats of crafting a motion picture that's available to filmmakers today; first is shooting on photochemical film which has been in use since the dawn of cinema while the other is shooting digitally which dominates the industry at present & has made the traditional film stock an endangered format.

Directed by Christopher Kenneally, this documentary presents Keanu Reeves as the questioner discussing about the evolution, impact & innovations the film camera has made since its creation and joining him in the discussion are Hollywood's esteemed directors like Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Richard Linklater, David Fincher, Christopher Nolan & many more plus it also asks the opinions of various cinematographers, editors, VFX supervisors & others as well.

Side by Side provides a thorough examination of the history of 35mm print while also capturing the dawn, rise & revolution of digital format in the past two decades which as of today threatens the very existence of traditional filmmaking format. We get to see strong proponents for both formats, each presenting very valid arguments when it comes to the benefits & limitations of both film stock & digital recording in things like ease of use, economy, flexibility etc.

On an overall scale, Side by Side beautifully covers the still ongoing battle of the superior format in the film industry today and my only gripe with it is that it's only 98 minutes long. Even though in my opinion digital cinema seems to be a valid choice in the long run, IMAX has given film stocks a fresh breathe of life, and if only both formats can mutually co-exist then it's a win-win situation for the industry. Extremely gripping, highly entertaining & downright informative, Side by Side is a must-watch for every cinema fan out there.

Hollywood insiders are aware of a battle that has been brewing for quite sometime now: the technology to capture the image has two camps- film and digital and each are perhaps overwhelming the other. Film is photomchemical and the method by which cinema has been created and projected for all these years (since the late 1890). Digital cameras are new on the block and because they can do everything a film camera can but with less production costs, they are vying to be the medium every director chooses. Keanu Reeves questions industry insiders from top directors and cinematographers and gets a honest non biased overview. This is a good watch for anyone interested in the technical and "behind the camera" scenes of making of film and television. The documentary is precise and educative.

"People love great stories. They love to get into a world and have an experience. And how they get it—it doesn't really matter." David Lynch

Which do you prefer: photochemical or digital projection for your movies? If you're geeky enough, you really care; if not, like me, you want a great story and characters with a crisp image that complements the theme, regardless of whether or not it's film. As for 3D, I can live without it.

Christopher Kenneally's interesting Side by Side documentary presents filmmakers like George Lucas who claim celluloid is dead and those like Christophe Nolan who vow not yet to trade his "oil paints for crayons." The film does a credible job presenting both sides with a slight edge to a future of all digital and a pessimistic take on film as an eventual curiosity.

Among the talking heads are avatars of photography and direction with an occasional producer and actress to get closer to us viewers, who are never questioned even though we are the ultimate arbiters. But the experts have valid and provocative points: the film advocates tout its warmth and color possibilities while the digital dudes trumpet the ease, low cost, and creative infinity. The film does an entertaining job of presenting the sides.

Both sides agree archiving remains a pressing and often neglected issue. Although Martin Scorsese is at the forefront of saving film, no one else has yet taken the case of digital preservation with his passion. The documentary doesn't take enough time on this issue especially since I thought something like my external hard drive would already be in the mix. Not. Apparently even digital imaging can break down in storage.

Oh, well, I'm with Lynch: Give me a super story and beautiful image and let the geeks and gods work out the details.

this film is. It's about marking a turning point in the history of cinema and raising awareness about it. Yes, it's a subject that's been discussed and bitched about for what, 10 years now, ever since Lucas proclaimed that film is dead. But maybe for the first time it brings all the opposite opinions together. Side by side. (Loved the editing - it was just like watching a tennis match) And for people like myself, 'civilian' moviegoers who while watching a movie often found themselves forgetting about the popcorn and instead wondering 'how it's made?', this film is like Christmas in June :) I mean, I've read a bit about film making; I've come across some of the terms and looked up their definition; I knew what a DP does; I've scratched a bit the surface of the whole wide world of movie making. But to have the main processes explained clearly, precisely and in a language I could understand, all this in a one-and-a-half hour film, was like... like attending film school but without the (almost always compulsory) elitism and snobbery ;) :D

And watching the documentary at a film festival was a special experience per se. It was shown in a small old-fashioned theater, with creaking seats and wood floors and velvet curtains and no air conditioning; and old theater where once I used to go watch old cinematheque movies in black-and-white. There was a bitter-sweet irony about it. The audience was formed mainly by film festival guests and film students; people with technical background in movie making, and a few lost souls like myself, who just wanted to watch the documentary we read so much about. And it was a joy to see them react to the technical jokes; to hear a few of them hoot when on the screen someone was talking about the operator and the DP losing their god-like status on the set, or to hear them snicker when Cameron rhetorically asks Reeves 'you've been on a few sets in your life, haven't you?'

It's a film about nostalgia and inevitability, with a very light note of sadness.

But this was just the first date, and I'm quite taken with the film, so I'd really like to get to know it better. You know, take it on a second date, then a third. I'll take it to the movies, the old-fashioned way ;) I'll wine it, dine it, maybe even take it on the obligatory weekend to Paris. It could be the beginning of a long lasting relationship. So, when is the DVD gonna be released ? ;) :)

This is a fantastic documentary which provides a window into the technical elements of the way an image is captured by cameras for motion pictures. Most of us are aware that there are two mediums- film, - which has been the method of application up until the last decade or two, and digital- which is trying to supplant film. It is an interesting look at the junction of art and science to create a feature film and the kind of hurdles these mediums, and the people using them have to overcome. Keanu Reeves is an excellent host and the usually drab actor seems full of energy here, asking furtive questions and giving feedback and opinion. There are a host of subjects interviewed here, from legendary filmmakers and cinematographers to producers and movie moguls. I prefer the look of film stock and will side with it, but there is no denying the strides digital cameras have made in recent years. And perhaps the greatest takeaway from this documentary is that it doesn't really matter what medium you shoot on- it is the person behind the camera that matters.