Tape vs Digital

PositivesDigital

● Widely available with a wide range of prices and quality.

● Simple use making it more accessible.● Shooting is less expensive than with

tape. ● Easy playback.● Very high quality High Definition.● Film clips can easily be uploaded to

hard drives for editing or even straight up to social media.

● Constant new advances. ● Developments in digital 3D means that

it gives short film directors another aspect to consider.

● Small and portable. ● SD provide a huge amount of memory

for a low cost. ● Files can be replicated without loss of

quality.

Tape● Tapes can be wiped and reused.● Easy to watch back over.● 16mm is inexpensive.● Seen as traditional and overall

reliable.● Professional cameras can be rented. ● Seen as a craft to learn and gives

vital skills to cinematographers such as how to edit and how to edit lighting.

NegativesDigital

● Has to be changed to 35mm to be displayed in cinemas.

● New advances mean that it can be expensive to keep up with new technologies.

Tape● Can easily be taped over if not played

forward again. ● Defects can be on the tape, spoiling the

overall image. ● 35mm is considerably more expensive

than 16mm but better quality and easier to distribute.

● Professional cameras with tape range from thousands to high end to hundreds for low ends, making the budget for short film cinematographers unrealistic.

● Bulky, heavy set up.● A laboratory is needed to convert films.● Has a tendency to be over or

underexposed with its broad exposure latitude making it hard to get the right balance.

● Quality can be lost when reproduced.

Which one to use for our short film?

We had decided to use film for our short film. Even though digital filmmaking is still very cheap, we have access to film tapes at no cost. Furthermore, we feel that we do not need such a crisp image as the organic nature of tapes adds to the character and atmosphere of our film. We will be using Digital tape, therefore compromising between the two. At the time of purchase, the school thought that digital tape was a much more stable purchase as HDD (Hard Disc Drives) could be damaged and have glitches. Unfortunately, recording on 35mm was too expensive for the budget, so using digital tape, we can still get the organic feel of tape, but at a better cost and more time effective.