The Analog Minority

There’s always that person who hears a song on iTunes/Spotify and says “This doesn’t sound as good as vinyl.” Maybe you’ve gone to the movies and heard someone lament the end of of movies being projected on film stock. (I’m totally that person, by the way). Does your friend still own a VCR, and a stack of classic horror films on VHS that could easily be watched on streaming? For mainstream media brands, or any entertainment company whose main interest is obtaining as much money as possible, these are not normally the kinds of demographics you’d want to aim for. Most people enjoy progress, and Netflix isn’t going to waste money converting their films to scratchy film prints when you can watch them on their HD service, right? Yet, I attended a screening of the Netflix Original Movie, The Other Side of the Wind, that the company had provided on a 35mm film print. At New York Comic-Con, there was a vendor selling official VHS copies of the 2013 horror film, V/H/S/2. Adult Swim has sold vinyl records of music from some of their shows. 

The minority of people who still care about analog formats are being catered to by the entertainment industry, despite there being very little economic incentive to do so. Let’s just start with film. In the past couple of years, films such as Baby Driver, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Dunkirk, Ready Player One, and more have been given screenings on film prints in cities like New York, Los Angeles, and other locations with a thriving film community. While screenings of film prints are common in those locations, making new ones is not cheap. The process of converting digital images to celluloid film stock, or “film-out,” will set you back around $35,000 a print. Of course, all of those films were made by multi-billion-dollar-conglomerate-owned movie studios with money to burn, so it’s not a big deal if they shell out a couple million bucks to attract cinematic purists. What is a big deal is the amount of independent titles and films intended for the Internet that have gotten the same treatment, including titles from Netflix, Amazon, and even YouTube. (Seeing the YouTube Originals logo with old-school film scratches is one of the more surreal moments I’ve had at the movies this year.) 

Of course, it helps that certain people with influence prefer film to digital. Directors like Paul Thomas Anderson and Christopher Nolan have shot their movies on film and even released limited edition film prints. Quentin Tarantino, assisted by the then-reputable Weinstein Company, shot The Hateful Eight on 70mm film (twice the quality of normal film stock), gave dozens of theaters the equipment to play it, and screened film prints a week early. Those who attended were treated to an extended cut of the film unreleased on video or streaming.

In addition, new factories for pressing vinyl records have opened, despite the ease of downloads and streaming. In fact, physical music releases outsold digital downloads last year, behind streaming services. As for VHS, most of the people putting out VHS tapes are companies that specialize in producing and distributing horror films and B-movies. These releases are meant to evoke memories of going to the video store and renting obscure/no-budget horror films on cruddy rental tapes. It's worth noting that VHS has a certain look. You can get an app that makes your iPad videos look like VHS, but it’s not. I should know. I still have a VHS camcorder. Some film formats are have a higher image quality than digital. The look and flaws of these formats (and occasionally their advantages) are a result of their process. For those of us who care, it's nice to be catered to.