Should There Be Grain in a Digital World?

Because there are no theaters where I live (some are promised for a new mall, if the economy allows them to break ground), I go to a neighboring town to watch movies. Martinsburg, West Virginia, has a Regal Theaters complex, and Winchester, Virginia, just two minutes farther down the road, has two Carmike Cinemas sixplexes.

Carmike was one of the first theater chains to wholly embrace digital projection, and all of their Winchester theaters have had digital projectors for some time now. Early last summer I saw my first digitally projected film, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and it freaked me out a bit. The picture was so clean and devoid of artifacts that I felt I was watching a network HD broadcast at home -- but here it was a dozen times larger, in a public theater. Old habits die hard, I guess -- I was looking for something to let me know I was watching a movie.

I think I’d better get used to it. Probably the only thing holding back every theater in the country from acquiring digital projection equipment is the cost. In the long run, however, the savings will be considerable, since there will be no physical product to print or ship or ship back. No trucking of cans of film, no film to break or splice -- no film, period. George Lucas is apparently reveling in this future. Stars Wars -- Episode II: Attack of the Clones was filmed entirely digitally. No film was used in its production; film copies were made only for screening in the theaters still using them. That would be, in my case, the Regal Theaters.

I’ve been bouncing back and forth between the local franchises of these two national chains, comparing digital and film projections of the same films. Despite my initial misgivings, I have to admit that digital projection offers an excellent picture and super sound. Moreover, because there’s no physical print to wear out, any given movie will look the same three weeks into its run as it does on opening night. And because digital projection is still in its infancy, we can assume that it will only improve.

With TV going digital in February 2009, we live in a world of digital entertainment. That has raised one issue for home viewers that is destined to be the equivalent of the letterbox controversy that raged in the last days of laserdisc and the early days of DVD. It seems to be OK across the board to make perfect digital copies of current movies. With older movies, classics in particular, almost everyone is happy to see them restored and cleaned up, with holes, flecks, and scratches repaired. But what if a producer removes the film grain itself, and thus almost any evidence that the original source is film? This idea has sent some viewers up in arms; discussions rage on the pertinent Internet discussion boards.

A lot of it seems rooted in what we’re used to, and how myopically we revere our film classics. One side will argue that such and such a director was aware of grain when he made a film, while another will note that grain exists in a film because it’s inherent to the medium, and that in transferring a work to a new medium, we should preserve the characteristics of the original medium. Some argue that grain makes a film look more "natural," while others point out that when you look at the real world without a camera, there of course is no grain.

As of yet I’ve drawn no conclusions. It wouldn’t bother me at all if Universal got rid of the grain on its black-and-white video masters, which drives me nuts. But would the Technicolor Tara of Gone With the Wind look the same without grain? I doubt it. One thing’s for sure -- experimentation will continue, and the public needs to be informed of the fact with clear statements on DVD packaging. "Digitally mastered" doesn’t do it -- the phrase can mean any number of things. Perhaps "Grain free" would work, or something similar to how supermarkets label ground meat: "60% grain removed," 80%, etc.

Engadget HD has commented on the issue in an amusing way. Three videos on their site, freshdv.com/2008/10/mr-pixel-and-mrs-grain.html, star Mr. Pixel and Mrs. Grain as they go through marriage counseling to patch up their differences. In the third installment, Mrs. Grain is whisked away in a helicopter, then reappears in different garb. "What happened to you?" asks Mr. Pixel. "I’ve been digitized," she replies. Pause. "You’ll get used to it."

. . . Rad Bennett
radb@hometheatersound.com

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