Obsessing over gear

Victor Kemper in Light and Shadow -- Greatest Cinematographers of the World, Interviewed.

I watched a good documentary on YouTube while at the gym last night, Light and Shadow -- Greatest Cinematographers of the World, Interviewed. It features short interviews with many of the top cinematographers discussing their art and craft. It makes a nice supplemental companion piece to Visions of Light.

One comment, made by Victor Kemper, particularly stood out to me:

"I feel very strongly about this for kids who are just trying to get in to the industry.  If you think for one moment that Hollywood gives a damn about what camera you used on a job, they don't even know, and I bet you couldn't even find three people who would even ask. So nobody should be worried about what camera they're using. The tool is there -- if you know how to use it, and you've got the talent, and you've got the drive, you can shoot a damn good movie."

I'm always struck by how the further up the chain you go, the less people seem to care about issues of gear and equipment. I certainly agree with the view that he expresses here, as someone who has always been dogged by criticism over not using the latest and greatest cameras and gear for my own shoots, for the simple fact that I am unable to afford them.

At the same time, I can't help wondering if this is a little bit of wishful thinking. Although we hear lots of stories about movies shot on iPhones or what have you, there's still the reality that Netflix, for example, has certain requirements about what cameras can be used to shoot original productions for their streaming service. So they most definitely care.

And of course, there's the reality that were you to try and shoot a Hollywood movie with a consumer level camcorder (like the one I used on Unknown Number), it would never fly.

Still, though, it's interesting that I've heard this sentiment expressed by professionals before. I find that among amateurs or non-professionals I encounter, they are often a lot more hung up on the gear being used, rather than the ideas you're working toward expressing. I've never understood this mindset. If you get so hung up on the equipment you're using that you freeze up and never produce anything, then what good is it doing you?

The issue of cameras and gear becomes a convenient excuse for why someone isn't producing anything, and can also be used as a way of marking by degrees the "serious" non-professional from the amateur hobbyist. At the end of the day, none of these distinctions should matter. But now that the means of production are now theoretically available to anyone, I suppose it's inevitable that new barriers to entry should be put up.

I'm reminded of something I noticed about 10 or 12 years ago, right after YouTube had really started to become big. Now that anyone could put their films out there for a worldwide audience to see, it took some of the power away from small film festivals that had previously been the only way for filmmakers to have their work shown. I remember reading an interview with a programmer from a local, DIY film festival who was bemoaning the fact that it was getting more difficult to find filmmakers interested in even showing their work at the festival, because they were now able to post their films to YouTube. I don't think it's surprising that film festivals came back with a vengeance around this time, because -- as with the fixation on gear -- it provides a further barrier to entry in an age when those barriers are continually being demolished by new possibilities.