“I saw a film today oh boy” – The Beatles

I was getting home off the tube from my work three weeks ago, and put the brakes on quick before I climbed the stairs out of the tunnel to read the full description of the poster at the foot of the staircase. It was a black and white photo with red text for Francis Ford Coppola’s newest film Tetro and I couldn’t help but feel excited to see what FFC has been up to lately since I hadn’t seen anything of note of his dating back to Apocalypse Now. But naturally, I was inclined to go see the work of a man who has created three masterpieces of cinema (The Godfather I, II and Apocalypse Now) and after all, it’s a much better alternative than seeing a pale vampire run around with wolves in the woods.

I got home and looked up a theatre in London and the times it was showing and I was ready to go, but first I had to read a quick little synopsis on the inter-web. I read a little bit about the film’s story, but what caught my eye was that that the film was edited with your standard Final Cut Pro on good old Macintosh. FFC put up his own money for the film and opted to use a post-production system that most everyday filmmakers use themselves. So now I really, really am interested in seeing this film and I was on my way.

London movie theatres are much more elegant and polished than those in the states. Bar, lounge, sofa’s, and small intimate screens really bring one back to how cinema was composed for, viewing with pleasure. The huge screens and 44 oz soda cups are not in sight, and the curtains open as the light beams onto the screen. But I was supposed to be talking about a film I saw, and indeed it was a film that may become a footnote in the future of film post-production and the struggle to deal with emerging film technologies.

Tetro is an autobiographical self-reflection of Coppola and his talented older brother who could never step out of his own way. The film is mostly shot in black and white with flashbacks in color, a departure from the common “dark ages” black and white flashbacks that most directors utilize. What is a glaring throughout the film is the post-production process and how film was shot are very obvious. Because the film was shot in HD and edited in Final Cut with very little image treatment, the film doesn’t have the feel of a feature film but rather that of a very well made student film. While the film was unfolding, I was torn between constantly observing the aesthetics of the films production and the plot of the film. The overwhelming clarity and affordability of technology are two things that will affect the biggest studio lot all the way to the documentary filmmaker.

Many will praise the advent of newer and better technologies for their better visual clarity and accessibility to a wider range of filmmaking, however there are still some growing pains associated with the new technology. Last year’s Public Enemies is perfect example of how Hi-Definition filmmaking still has a way to go before scenes involving stunts can go off without leaving the theatre audience perplexed. In Public Enemies, the image is so clear that scenes involving a stuntman diving out a window look even more staged than if it were shot on say a Panavision. So clear was the picture, that the lights shining on the actors in a night scene were so strong that it looked like a behind the scenes photo shoot more than part of the story.

So while Tetro is a great step in the right direction by one of cinemas all time greats making a level playing field for all filmmakers who now no longer need studio exclusive filming and editing equipment, Hollywood and filmmakers everywhere will have to harness HD in a way that doesn’t make the audience focus on minute details rather than the film’s message.