Quentin Tarantino and Roger Deakins Polarizing Opinions on Film VS Digital

If you want to hear why Christopher Nolan and Hoyte van Hoytema shoots everything in camera and on film, check out our new video! https://youtu.be/fAWBkhrerAU

“It’s about the eye behind the camera, not the bloody technology”

The best thing about this is that it's not the typical "old generation vs new generation thing", where the old generation defends their methods against the more practical new ones, instead it's 71-year-old Roger Deakins going with the time and using logical arguments against the younger Tarantino. That is incredibly funny to me.

“Dollys are the death of cinema as I once knew it”- random guy in 1938

Bladerunner 2049 was one of the most beautiful movies I’ve ever had the pleasure to watch.

I love Tarantino, but the contrast between Deakin’s measured, considered opinion and Tarantino’s hyperbole is stark.

Deakin is a practical man. His justification for using digital just makes sense to his workflow. Tarantino just talks about film tradition. Deakins knows how to use film but still chooses to innovate on his craft.

I feel like Tarantino is comfortable with that mind set because he doesn't have to deal with all the shit Deakins has to deal with.

"It's what's in the frame" perfectly summarizes this whole argument

If roger deakins of all people says he can’t see the difference...it probably isn’t a big deal

Tarantino: Digital is the death of cinema Roger Deakins: Ok boomer

Love what Deakins said. Though he shoots digitially and understands there's much latitude to it, he still gets everything right "in camera". This is where most people fail today. They want to get everything done "in post" instead of the other way around. Once I learned to get everything right in camera, filmmaking was much more enjoyable and satisfying and my work actually began to look more professional than what it looked like before. Really, cutting corners is amateur and lazy as hell man.

I have way too much respect for David Fincher and how he uses digital cinematography to dismiss it. Also digital camera tech has allowed normal people like me to produce great looking images on my own

Sometimes it sounds like a religion rather than a stylistic choice.

Really cool video. I find it very funny that Tarantino hates digital but said the “hands down best movie” of the last decade was “the social network”. A film shot on digital. Directed by an established filmmaker that’s famous for shooting on digital.

Interesting how the older man and actual cinematographer (Deakins) is forward looking, practical and gets that it's the storytelling/the artistry behind the camera that ultimately matters, while the younger man (Tarantino) is backward looking, lost in nostalgia, point-blank dismissive, and offers no practical reasons why digital is some hideous abomination. QT is also pretty condescending saying the current generation of established filmmakers is just plain wrong for shooting on digital more than film. You just cannot say Blade Runner 2049 is lessened and contributes to 'the death of cinema' just because it happened to be shot digitally. That's ridiculous Quentin (all respect to his own work). Film and digital are just different mediums contributing to the same cause: good storytelling. The original Blade Runner was shot on film, BR2049 on digital -- yet both are masterpieces that feel like the same amazing world. Yes, lousy films have been shot on digital, but lousy films have also been shot on film -- and that's nothing to do with the formats, but with bad storytelling, acting, writing etc. I don't (and really hope) film doesn't go away, but neither will digital and is here to stay. Neither format will save a lousy story at the end of the day.

I feel like Tarantino doesn't give any actual disadvantages of digital in his argument. He just likes film and is too stubborn to see the advantage of digital. I don't think film will ever go away completely. There will always be films for those who like it. But the ease of shooting digitally will allow more people to make movies. It's better for filmmaking in the long run. edit: Nevermind I just finished the video lol

Deakins’ opinion holds more weight, I believe. Tarantino is being melodramatic.

QT lives in the 70s. His entire aesthetic is a kind of recreation of the cinema he grew up with. Not that there's anything wrong with it. And it's not even the main reason cinema is dying.

I love how one of the most respected DPs of this century can be so nonchalant about equipment. He knows he can rely on any tool to say anything however he wants to.