Introduction

A book that charts a journey across cinematic boundaries. Across filmed and imagined digital spaces, between the layers of fact and fiction from moving imagemakers redefining the rules of film.

The End of Celluloid is a book that will change the way you see film. Arguing that filmmaking is being superseded by a spectrum of moving image, it extends the range of what we think of as filmmaking. It explores the latest in digital film and new forms of 'advanced moving image', highlighting the most exciting and innovative examples of this entertainment.

It includes commentary on highly regarded filmmakers and those starting to make an impact who are influencing this next generation of filmmaking. The book presents an insight into these new styles infiltrating the mainstream, taking in film, animation, FMV and machinima (computer gaming animations), digital tv, pop promos, websites, PDA and PVP devices.

Unlike other books that look at these singular areas, The End of Celluloid joins the dots between these disciplines, offering visual cues and stimulation, with authoritative commentary suggesting directions for future and possible evolutionary paths.

Publication details

The End of Celluloid: Film futures in the digital age
Author: Matt Hanson
Design: Studio Tonne
Publisher: RotoVision, UK
Release date: May, 2004
ISBN: 2880467837
Buy: Amazon.co.uk link

Mobile site

For mobile access point to: winksite.com/ami/endcell

Directors featured

Moving imagemakers from all disciplines are redefining the rules of film.
The End of Celluloid charts a journey across cinematic boundaries and features works by artists including:

• Jonas Åkerlund (Spun)
  
• Roger Avary (Rules of Attraction)
  
• Matthew Barney (The Cremaster Cycle)
  
• Danny Boyle (28 Days Later)
  
• Chris Cunningham (Flex, Windowlicker)
  
• Mike Figgis (Hotel, Timecode)
  
• Grant Gee (Meeting People is Easy)
  
• Lars von Trier (Idioterne)
  
• Peter Greenaway (The Tulse Luper Suitcases)
  
• Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid series)
  
• David Lynch (Rabbits, The Third Place)
  
• Koji Morimoto (Noiseman Sound Insect)
  
• Hideo Nakata (Ringu)
  
• Marc Evans (My Little Eye)
  
• Ken Thain (Rebel Vs Thug)
  
• Mark Neale (No Maps for these Territories)
  
• Mamoru Oshii (Avalon)
  
• Kinematic (9-11 Survivor)
  
• Bill Viola (The Greeting, The Passions)
  
• Kieran Evans & Paul Kelly (Finisterre)
  
• C-Level (Endgames: Waco Resurrection)
  
• Strange Company (Eschaton, Steelwight)
  
• Richard Linklater (Waking Life)
  
• Simon Pummell (Bodysong)
  
• Fumita Ueda (Ico)
  
• Shynola (Radiohead blips & music videos)
  
• Kasuhisa Takenouchi (Interstella 5555)
  
• Sabiston & Pallotta (Roadhead, Snack & Drink)
  
• Janet Cardiff (The Telephone Call)
  
• Andy & Larry Wachowski (Animatrix, The Matrix trilogy)

Contents

The End of Celluloid: Film futures in the digital age

Table of contents

Introduction: From reality to illusion

1. Capturing the unnatural
   – supernatural, psychological and everyday horror
   
2. The next level
   – cinema as game. Computer game-influenced realities in film
   
3. Recording reality
   – the digital revitalisation of documentaries
   
4. Player Vs Spectator
   - game as cinema (FMV, cinematics and machinima)
   
5. The dark corner
   – digital visions on the margins
   
6. Accelerated cinema
   – the influence of music video direction
   
7. Quick on the draw
   – the rise of animation
   
8. The Eternal Gaze
   – the future of audiovisual consumption
   
9. Acting Unreal
   
   • PART 1: egoless stars
     
   • PART 2: acting out history
   
   
10. Double vision
    – filmmaking for fun and profit
    
11. Against the grain
    – beyond video art: film as fine art
    
12. Return of the Epic
    – cinema’s last stand

About the author

Matt Hanson is an authority on digital film and contemporary trends in moving image, named as an ‘international film visionary’ by Screen International magazine. In 1996, he created the UK digital film festival onedotzero: 'Probably the most influential film festival of the early 21st century' (The Guardian newspaper, UK). He currently runs V.I.A., based in Brighton, UK, which creates pioneering moving image projects. He has produced numerous digital films, tv series and hybrid VJ/live film performances.

Extended interviews

Constrained by a books word count, full interview texts from some of the filmmakers interviewed were not able to be included within The End of Celluloid. We are providing links to these via the website. Interviews are hosted at www.advancedmovingimage.com:

Kieron Evans interview: St Etienne's Finisterre documentary

From reality to illusion

Web adaptation of the introductory essay for the book:

"Rarely has reality so much needed to be imagined."
Chris Marker, French documentary maker

This book is not about film. Not simply about what we see on screens and monitors. Not just about watching, alone in the dark or together with friends. This is, fundamentally, a book about how we can experience moving image now and in the future.

A century of cinema has passed, and as it has done so, so too has the torch from Lumiére to Méliès; from realism to illusion. The way we are now able to modify and alter images means that everything from subtle irrealities to full-blown fantasy, intimate documentary, and devastating new forms of drama can be portrayed on screen. For the first time in history, if it can be imagined it can become a 'film'.

More on "From reality to illusion"…

Epic Battlefield Scotsman article

Article based on Chapter 12 of the book (Return of the Epic – cinema’s last stand) appears in The Scotsman newspaper's Saturday magazine:

"FILM-MAKING ON AN EPIC SCALE HAS returned to the cinema with a vengeance and recent box-office results for the industry indicate that, superficially at least, cinema is in rude health. But the media’s mounting fascination with the business of cinema confuses the artistic vigour and vitality of film-making with the financial returns being generated by a few stellar hits."

Full article at Scotsman.com