Making a film without the use of a film or video camera seems like one of those tasks that can be filed under the category of things that cannot be done. However, upon further inspection and with more creative thought and ingenuity, one can come up with many ways to make a film that do not require the use of a film camera.
One way could be by using a digital still camera. Not only do they have the ability to take still images, but most have a video setting. Secondly, a cell phone camera could be used much like a digital still camera could be, but the quality between the two would be slightly different. Third, a web cam could be used. Another way to make a film without the use of a camera would be to scan images with a scanner and edit the images into a film timeline with a computer and editing software, much like a still image film would be. One could even draw animations by hand or with the help of a computer and create an animated film that would not require a camera at all. Printing on film with the use of a computer printer is another way to go about filmmaking. A film could even be made by pulling pieces of other films together and editing them in such a way to tell a narrative story or to make a statement, such as culture jamming or doing found footage films like our next project will be.
Using different mediums would clearly result in different results:
· A digital still camera would be useful if a low visual quality would help the film creatively and the ability of the film to communicate the intended story. The video taken on a digital still camera would be short segments, or at least it is on my digital camera, so it would not allow for long takes. Therefore, the cuts would be very abrupt and jarring, depending on how they were edited together and that could allow for effective use in action movies or low quality horror movies where quick shifts in narrative would be helpful. Using the digital still feature of the camera would create a dreamlike world, almost fantasy like, and could create a world of a drug addict as seen through his/her eyes while under the effects of drugs, with all of the choppy movements and whatnot.
· Cellular phone image quality, both still and video, can vary drastically depending on the quality of the cell phone itself and what the phone was meant to do. Some phones are meant to be media phones while others are intended to just be used for calls and maybe for checking e-mails. However, most cell phones with digital cameras built in have video cameras and onboard microphones built in as well. I think a cell phone would be very effective in filming some kind of mockumentary/scripted documentary such as Cloverfield or something similar where a character or group of characters must go on a journey and are left to use what resources they have for communication.
· Webcam video quality has come a long way from when it first began. Some webcams have such great quality that they look like inexpensive video camera quality, as far as visuals go. Using a webcam would be most effective in a setting where the story allows for the use of cameras. Maybe a kidnapping where the two parties involved, the kidnappers and the cops/family waiting to pay ransom/etc. communicate through computers. Either that, or it could be a situation where a film is done as a serial type of deal where segments are posted online and eventually the full story is revealed, much like old stories used to be when they were printed in newspapers or told on radios.
· Scanning images onto a computer and editing them together to make a movie would really only be effective if the filmmaker is trying to create some kind of fantasy world or is just trying to make an experimental film that does not necessarily require a clear narrative storyline, simply because the variations in how the images look, whether distorted or out of focus or completely clear, when scanned into the computer could vary so greatly.
· Making an animated film by drawing on paper and scanning the images in or just drawing in a computer program that allows for it would probably only be the most effective for a story that could be told in the manner of a cartoon, either adult or childlike. Some kind of fantasy world or just a story where the characters did not need to resemble perfect human beings but could allow for a stretch of the imagination.
· Printing on film would really only be a technique used in an experimental film setting because so much is left to chance as the film runs through the printer that it would be difficult to try to control the dots of ink enough to actual create a real story.
· Lastly, a found footage film would be best for communicating some kind of commentary on some aspect of society, whether it be a positive or a negative commentary. The quality would probably be better than most other methods, depending on where the footage is captured or taken from, but it would limit the type of story that could be told based on the availability of clips and film segments.
So, clearly, it is not impossible to make a film without a film or video camera, but it really is only effective depending on the type of film being made.
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