On Questions of the Image with End of Watch

There was a time when the quality of film was a point to be proud of. A clean, crisp image was to be admired. This has by no means completely disappeared. Directors like Christopher Nolan are experimenting with wide, sharp images for IMAX. Paul Thomas Anderson did the same with 65mm for The Master (2012), which looked fantastic. The onset of digital filmmaking, perhaps led by Michael Mann in mainstream cinema offers a different aesthetic, but remains of a high quality.

A poor image used to connote a poor, cheaply made film. No longer is this the case. Digital film has made the art form more accessible and the Internet provides the platform. This disregard of the link between poor quality poor film, has spread into mainstream cinema. Take the Paranormal Activity (2007 – 2012) series; films that rely on the grainy, vintage look of the film to tell their stories. End of Watch works on the same principal by following two LA policemen, one of who is documenting the life of the police for a film class he is taking.  The image switches from that of the handheld digital he holds, to button cameras he and his partner wear to third party shot footage by director David Ayer. The difference in image is clear, but never detracts from the suspense the film creates and actually uses the variants in image as a driving force in the narrative. The issue may be that audiences newer to the cinema will be unable or unwilling to differentiate between the qualities of image produced by 35mm, to 70mm, to digital to pseudo-vintage. The art form maybe disappearing.