Camera Obscura

The nature of the cinema has changed. And while some would argue for the better and some for the worse, the fact of the matter is that the primal ingredient is near void, at least in its creation.

While the current state of film is vastly commercial, its founding footsteps were strictly scientific. Experiments with the camera obscura played with darkness, and of course with light. And for the majority of its life, the motion picture industry has survived because of it. The chemical celluloid process cannot exist without exposure, and the money spent to pump electricity to lights was spent with the assumption that it would be returned in profit. Today, some of the most wildly popular films exist without casting light onto paper. Are they movies? Sure. Are they films? Not technically, unless they are projected non-digitally.

For many, myself included, this is an alarming state in which to find ourselves. Video cameras are nearing the look and versatility of film, albeit they still have a ways to go. However, there shouldn't be much doubt that the day will come when the inexpensive, pro-sumer camera can out power the machines used by professionals for years. Some would certainly argue they already do.

But they miss the point. Video in its own right is a separate scientific area not to be confused with nor overshadow that of film. The medium that needs light to live, much like the plants and animals that inhabit our planet. I built a camera obscura, something I have not done since high school physics class. It was one of the most cathartic and truly amazing things I have done in a while. What differs between this and film is permanency.

The moving images I viewed in the darkness resembled the static observations found in countless films of past and present. They were alive and upside-down. They were also the beginning steps of the superior form of capturing life, of holding its image for the ages. But they only last for the split seconds that they happened and subsequently disappeared for all of time. Film lasts a little bit longer.