“This motion picture was shot and finished on film” read a title card at the end of last summer’s “The Dark Knight Rises.” Throughout the past decade, the film industry has turned into a largely digital affair — here’s a fun game, try to find a theater near you that still projects new movies on film — but there are still those stalwarts like Christopher Nolan who, despite industry pressure, still continue to use and fight for photochemical film as a medium. However, the “Inception” director is far from alone in his preference for good old-fashioned film stock.
Through its website, Kodak (via No Film School) has released a list of recent and upcoming productions that were shot on its stock and it’s quite the list. Among the obvious are Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino, who are as outspoken in their love for film as Nolan is. (Speaking of which, his former DP-now-turned-director Wally Pfister is also shooting his upcoming secretive directorial debut “Transcendence” on the company’s stock.) And oh yeah, no surprise either that Woody Allen and the Coen Brothers 2013 features “Blue Jasmine” and “Inside Llewyn Davis” preferred celluloid.
Despite the cheapness of shooting digital, there are quite a few indies and TV shows still shooting on film: “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and the upcoming “Fruitvale Station” (both on Super 16mm), “Boardwalk Empire,” “Breaking Bad,” “True Blood,” and “American Horror Story.”
And on the blockbuster front, five of the year’s tentpoles have shot on film: “Star Trek Into Darkness” (which also has some footage shot on IMAX), “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” (also with native IMAX footage), “Man Of Steel” (but of course), “The Lone Ranger” and “Fast & Furious 6.”
So yeah, film might be in trouble, but it still has some life left in it. You can check out the rest of the list here.