American Cinematographer - September 2000 - 92

COMMENTARY:

SEARCHING FOR THE FUTURE
By Victor J. Kemper, ASC
President,
American Society of Cinematographers

Solitary prophecy is a risky business, according to J.B.
Priestley, a popular novelist during the 1920s. Priestley
observed that its main role is to give your descendents some¬
thing to laugh about. The history of our industry gives us plen¬
ty of examples. "Film Is Dead!" was a banner headline on
page one of Daily Variety in 1956 when Ampex invented video¬
tape. Other predictions that went awry were as follows:
Television will kill radio. Television will kill the cinema.
Television will create

"theater in every house with benefits
for children and cultural education." That last prediction was
made in 1930

a

by David Sarnoff, the founder of NBC and RCA,
apparently didn't envision Who Wants to Marry a
Millionaire?. A prediction was made that all movies in the
future will be produced in 3-D format. All movies will be pro¬
duced in Cinerama format. All movies will be produced in
Cinemascope format. All movies and dramas for television will
be produced and distributed in high-definition video format
within 10 years. The New York Times made that last prediction
in 1982. The moral is that if you are going to predict the
future, you'd better have some grounding in the past.
Otherwise you are destined to repeat the same mistakes.
The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) brings
a unique perspective to these issues. The ASC was founded in
1919, right after the dawn of the film industry. The original
members organized out of necessity. They were collaborating
on the invention of a powerful, new visual language for telling
stories with moving images.
The ASC provided a forum for exchanging ideas and a
platform for championing the pursuit of excellence in artful
who

filmmaking. The record shows that the ASC relentlessly champi¬
oned technological innovation as a means rather than an end.
That heritage has been nurtured by each subsequent genera¬
tion of ASC members.
We all have

stories to tell. I

was just beginning
Jersey when Variety published
its premature obituary for film. I quit my job and paid my own
way to Ampex headquarters in Redwood City, California, where
I trained to become one of the world's first videographers.
Within a few years, I realized that the doomsayers were
wrong. I subsequently earned more than 50 narrative film
our own

my career at a TV station in New

credits and
Award

was

honored in 1998 with

by my ASC

a

Lifetime Achievement

peers.

I'm optimistic about the future of

cinematography. The
occurring in digital postproduction, where
many cinematographers apply the final dabs of paint on the
images they created during production. I'm certain that is a
path to the future.
Many pundits also predict that digital camcorders
and/or computers will inevitably replace film because they
cost less. That's like saying painting will replace sculpting
real revolution is

because it costs less. The truth is that film is

a superior
image-capture medium that provides a significantly different
palette with more resolution and a broader range of contrast

and colors.
that

can

Someday there will be methods of image capture
approach or equal the photography of motion-picture

film. But until that
what motion

day comes, we shouldn't settle for less than
picture negative can produce.

Phot
by

Douglas
Kirkland
American Cinematographer - September 2000

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