Hi,
Some more analog/digital cheap bologna! In film! (Because the discussion in music is redundant, boring.) In this case, this is how "analog" (old), has defined some things that "digital" (new) is telling us is different! It's all very literary, you know!
1. In film you can see a lot about the setting that Hollywood -- specially!!! -- hides. For example: You would not be able to shoot a film/play indoors. Why? The lighting in a square room and roof, was a bunch of candles, and/or a bowl of oil burning. These lights would be on a pedestal of some sort, so they do not get bumped around. These also offer some warmth, and with no heating, most of these rooms would have tapestries hanging on the walls ... which means that these are easy fire traps and now you know why Glauce died checking out a new dress from Medea ... it was not the misogynist idea that Medea had poisons and other magicks in the dress. The nativity scene would not be visible with a couple of candles, which makes the story a bit weirder to believe!
2. Food, for the most part, would almost always be served at room temperature, which means that some of those feasts on the huge table, would have some wilted lettuce!
3. Kissing. Hollywood, created the shot/crossshot/shot/crossshot/sideshot/shot/crossshot concept of the kissing mentality ... and we still don't know how to kiss, and many times lack individuality because of it. The camera switching points of view, in actuality is confusing, btw, since it would be the point of view from THREE different people, each one of the kissers and a voyeur on the side. Thus, kissing becomes a seriously stupid counter point to the story many times, and in fact, Robert Altman, used to make sure he would counterpoint these ideas on kisses, simply to show people they did not know the difference, but his "kisses" were "impersonal", one reviewer once said! So you had to have the "convention" in order to have "personal" kisses!
4. Inability to sit still. One of the strongest ideas in any David Lean film, or any Akira Kurosawa film, is their ability to sit the camera and just watch things go by. It actually creates a nice effect that otherwise, shows us how impatient we have become, and how unable to sit still we have become. While, for many, it may seem boring, in the end, there is a lot one can do with this, and Akira Kurosawa shows us in RAN that these valleys and distances are a war general's heaven! Well, nowadays we don't need no generals ... we use other things for that! But the point of the observatory eyes, is lost!
5. Generally, American films are known to simplify the story, or make it look like there is a story, simply to create a blockbuster! And this gets added to what has become known as "action", as in faster paced moments on the screen, to make it look like things take place faster and non-stop, a lot more than we know, or can possibly understand. The "action" becomes the story. Too many European films are still influenced by the ravages of war, although the 80's and 90's in the 20th century saw a lot of those films disappear. It was replaced by the revolutions at the time, and all nationalities were not exempt. So, in this case, serious history, interfered with life, so harshly, that it still lives in one form or another. America's history and influence? Ask the blacks and the Indians about it! They are still not individuals in film, but mostly stock characters!
6. Let's make believe. Hollywood is known for its sets. Europe is known for its history. Akira Kurosawa? In many cases, no sets at all. So Judy Garland gets the blue and pink scrim, and we think she's a star. A warrior gets a blank screen, and we don't think he is an idiot! (Kagemusha). Later, Akira used full single color to show that he could do Bertollucci better!
Bit ... get the film "Visions of Light" ... it is about cinematographers and it is totally amazing and insane and exciting. And you get to see film in a completely different light, and also to know how some folks think. It DEFIES, and TRASHES, completely, the idea of "analog/digital", since it won't matter ... it's the people working with the items, that matter, and what they do with it. Highly recommended film for everyone here, but it is a perspective on film, that we do NOT have on music.
Writing things like this, here, is something I would like to do in music, but it is much harder to express, because musicians are notoriously bad at opening up their expression. Film, is much more anarchistic, and individual in that process, than most music! They will get self-conscious and defensive when they see literary criticism of their work. Film, is much more universal, than music, in this respect.