Ken Burn’s new documentary series The National Parks: America’s Best Idea is drawing attention from shooters because it was shot on Super 16mm film and not HD. There seems to be a debate about whether this was a good decision, especially since there are a million possible vicissitudes somewhere between the original footage and the image that ends up on your TV.
I bet the original footage looks great. But since Ken Burns views his work on a cinema screen and not an HDTV, it’s possible that he’s not seeing the problems that shooting S16 for TV can add. There’s also a lot of links in the chain where the image quality can be ruined, from shooting to telecine to the DI (digital intermediate) to the distribution master to the local broadcaster.
I haven’t seen the show myself, but I like the look of other shows shot on S16, like Austin’s own Friday Night Lights. What do you think?
America’s Best Idea [Videopia]
Discussion [Creative Cow]
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