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Resfest 2000

by John McGee

Wave Twisters (Images courtesy Resfest Japan)

Camcorder commandos, motion graphics mavericks and indie film impresarios get ready, Resfest is back. The international showcase of digital filmmaking returns to Harajuku Laforet this month for another long weekend of innovation and fun. Originating in San Francisco, this annual festival introduces the work of many of the talented filmmakers on the technical and artistic cutting-edge of the emerging digital field. 

Resfest differs from your garden variety film festival by focusing on digital media and the way they are shaping the future of filmmaking. Zeroes and ones are the latest superstars, schmoozing their way into virtually every nook of traditional film production, be it digital video (DV) cameras, post-production special effects, non-linear editing or digital animation. 

Despite the popularity of computer graphics (CG) enhanced special effects, digital filmmaking is a lot more than spinning a cow inside a tornado or pinning a fishing boat to a 100ft wave. Digital looks to transform the filmmaking industry in the same way it rocked the music industry following the introduction of digital production. In the editing room, filmmakers can now use computers to cut, paste and layer moving images like Photoshop does still images or a sound mixer does tracks of music. 

Moreover, the affordability of digital tools has helped democratize a notoriously pricey medium. Nowadays anyone with a late model iMac and a video camera can shoot, edit and title their own homespun Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or "Survivor." In fact, most of the Resfest films have been touched by at least one consumer-grade Apple, Adobe or MacroMedia product. 

Indeed, the bit role of digital has even begun to threaten that most visceral leading man of filmmaking itself, celluloid. Quirkiness aside, the success of Blair Witch Project clearly demonstrated that video cameras are no longer mere extensions of your dad's right arm but are accepted as high-end professional filmmaking tools. While most would agree that the image quality of DV is still inferior to film, this gap is closing and may soon be a matter of style rather than substance. 

Resfest is a good forum to examine how, with rapid technological advancements, digital filmmaking is stepping out from behind the fuzzy curtain of video and changing the way films look, how they are made, and who makes them.

This film festival was held Nov, 2000 at Laforet Museum in Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan.

©2006 John McGee

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