Re: Film Fading to Black

Wow! This is amazing. When we entered the "film" business in the mid sixties it was a mature, more-or-less, stabilized industry. It hadn't basically changed since its inception, baring technical advances in film stock and improved cameras. But the entire art form rested on moving a chemically treated piece of plastic one frame at a time behind a lens mounted on a dark box. Then, you sat in a bigger dark box and reversed the process as the images captured on that piece of plastic were projected on a white wall.

Painting, sculpture, poetry and prose have been with us since the first cave paintings, which are how old.... I think the latest estimate is 35,000 years. What is so poignant and sad about film's brief moment is that it took the combined efforts of so many skilled and talented people and a high level of artistry by everyone to bring it to life.

For me it was always the process of creation that was the most thrilling, not the end result itself. In addition to capturing the original images, the most satisfying moments were transitions between scenes and making them work smoothly and flawlessly, moving the story forward. That is why today, I still enjoy just standing near it all....Charles O. Slavens

Charles O. Slavens
The apparent is never the real.