Debate: ‘Which tools for which film ?'

9:30 -10:30
Presentation
Appraisal of the production of documentaries in FWB by Guy Vandenbulcke, followed by Q&A session

10:30 – 12:30
Debate : ‘Which tools for which film ? “
The history of documentary cinema, its message and its role are linked to the evolutions of the tools that allow the film’s creation, from the filming to the work of sound track and editing. Some times, technical developments are born from the ideas of the filmmakers themselves and the resulting fabrication of needed materials. At other times, it is based on the logic of the market and availability of manufactured materials.

In the early 1980s, established and emerging filmmakers used domestic video cameras in order to make films in conditions of production that were less formal and less costly, with promises of reinventing cinema and allowing for more creative autonomy. With a free script an personal aesthetic, a cinema of movement was being born, for better or for worse.

Since then, each new piece of image-producing technology provides a new space and aesthetic framework, from digital cameras to portable phones, and from webcams to GoPro cameras…

What are the consequences of this fast-paced technological development on the creation of cinema? Why is it that the choice of material today often results in a script? Shouldn’t it be the reverse ? Is the democratisation of tools a tangible reality or just an illusion ?

And, what price do filmmakers pay for this autonomy ? Isn’t the author then, in his isolation, swapping dialogue with a technical team for impossible flexibility?

How have technological tools affected the teaching of cinema in schools? What choices are there for post-production formats, distribution and archiving? What are the trade-off between quality equipment, studio dynamics and the race to innovate?

Today, aren’t workshop, (including filmmakers, technical collaborators and post-production creators), obligated instead to take a clearer firmer position about where we stand regarding our technical choices?

Led by Jean-Christophe Pirnay (AJC!) in the presence of cinema technicians and Jean-François Parfait, technical consultant with the Centre du cinéma de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles).

A debate organised by the AAAPA (Association des ateliers d’accueil, d’école et de production audiovisuelle de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles).

Flagey, Filmer A Tout Prix, Gsara