Introduction

In this Chapter I move towards a deeper consideration of the symbolic manifestation of celluloid film production terminology and nomenclature in both the physical and digital spaces of film production. I attempt to synthesise the various ‘aesthetics of production’, a hybrid set of established conventions including daily-ness, modularisation, workflow-warp, identified in the preceding Chapter, into a pervading Production Aesthetic which is at once characterised by celluloid continuities and digital resistances. Ginger & Rosa is an emblematic case study in this regard precisely because of its many transitional facets but, particularly, in three different ways:

• 1. in its blend of film and digital technologies: it is filmed on a digital format, but uses celluloid processes as part of its distribution strategy – a release print was produced and distributed on film to certain venues. It also marks a significant historical moment as the last feature film to be processed before the closure of the film laboratory at Shortcut, Copenhagen.

• 2. in its blend and diversity of practitioners – crew members spanned both the film and born-digital domains: those who had previously worked in entirely celluloid ways and those practitioners who had only ever worked using digital formats, tools and technologies.

• 3. in its context as a transnational co-production (with Denmark), which worked across continents and time frames. As a result, it used new and emergent digital technologies to facilitate different aspects of the work including networked communication and post-production processes. The transnational dimension was further augmented by its international casting, with key cast members coming from America, UK and Australia.

I argue that it is these factors which led to a number of hybrid strategies which fused the pre-digital with the digital in the film production process and workflow. I locate and identify evidence of these transitionary practices, resistances and tensions, which at once can be considered to both simultaneously celebrate whilst actively seeking to occlude the digital in process and practice.

I aim to develop understandings about how fragments of the history of filmmaking and its practices come to be embedded within aesthetics of production through an exploration into the vestigial sign-system which manifest in production process, language, software and documentation.