06/09/08
Text: Nik Mercer
With film becoming less and less viable a medium to preserve and store, filmmakers are rapidly embracing digital for its convenience, cheapness, and compactness. Still, though, digital technologies are, in many cases, unobtainable to many. With the newly launched Reframe, the Tribeca Film Institute aims to eliminate this issue.
The online service not only collects hard-to-find film/content in one easily navigable website, acting as a hub for filmmakers, educators, and researchers alike, but also functions as a free tool for uploading and digitizing film. "Too many films remain unavailable to the public, even the best researchers and scholars, because they are literally 'stuck on the shelf' in analog formats, or in hard to find catalogs. Reframe will essentially digitize our visual heritage and give these important works new life,” said Brian Newman, CEO of Tribeca Film Institute.
Even on Reframe's first day live, the list of filmmakers is overwhelming, and there are already many film providers represented. It's like YouTube, but instead of Tay Zonday, Reframe features the Thriller trailer and snooty Criterion Collection movies.
"Reframe aims to ensure that our visual heritage doesn't disappear and at the same time will open up a marketplace in the education arena for filmmakers." With a motto like theirs, its hard to not get behind the innovation.
