According to the USA Today story, "Titanic" director James Cameron believes the impact of switching from celluloid to digital exhibition will be as profound as the switch to "talkies" from silent and to color from black and white. The images are sharper and, because digital projection can light each frame more evenly, filmgoers will no longer see a brighter spot in the middle of the screen. Additionally, digital pictures are sturdier --- impervious to scratching, smudging and breaking.
Directors are increasingly switching from analog, 35-millimeter cameras to digital cameras. "Screen Rant" writer and filmmaker Mike Eisenberg believes the clearest advantage computerized filming is its immediacy. Gone are the days of having to send the film to a post-production facility just to see dailies (the day's filming) at a later screening. In fact, says Eisenberg, the technology makes it possible to deliver the final product to the editor the same day it was shot.
Some filmmakers prefer the grainy texture of traditional film to the sharp, stark images captured by digital technology. However, in a 2011 interview in "Film," cinematographer Roger Deakins points out that digital filming technology allows the filmmaker to add grain to the image later. Grain, says Deakins, can even be added to specific sequences in the movie that would benefit from a warmer, emulsified film appearance.
No longer will theaters need two prints --- and two projectors --- running at the same time to project 3-D movies. Although viewers will still have to wear special 3-D glasses, theaters will require only one projector to do the job. This, says Sony Pictures Digital President Yair Landau, is one of the ways that digital technology will help theaters retain their superiority over home-viewing systems.
A major advantage of digital filming is its lack of film and film stock cost. Additionally, the cost of rendering a digital movie is a fraction of film lab and other processing expenses of 35-mm film. Another money-saving aspect of digital filming is its immediate assurance of a shot's success. With analog shooting, it may take days to find out that a particular shot was badly lit or in some other way unusable. However, with digital photography, the filmmaker discovers right away if another take is necessary --- before the set has been taken down and the actors and crew have gone for the day. (Ref. 4)