Author Topic: use of the term "footage" (Read 2850 times)

stockastic · « **on:** April 06, 2013, 09:03 »

I don't do video, but I see the term "footage" is still in common use, although it's from the days of film. I wonder why video people keep on using it, although 'still' shooters don't talk about submitting "film", and we say "postprocess", not "develop".

So why say "footage" instead of just "video"?

Just wondering. I'm old enough to have seen film replaced by digital, and all the film terms fade away.

PeterChigmaroff · « **Reply #1 on:** April 06, 2013, 10:23 »

Etymology is an interesting study. There still is some "footage" being shot out there so it's not actually history yet but I'm sure the term will survive. There must be thousands of examples similar to this. "similars" popped out of the stock photo world as a noun and I don't think is used this way elsewhere. Plus footage is much more descriptive, "video" can mean almost anything including movies we watch. So if I say I'm out shooting footage, I think it means something different than if I'm out shooting a video. No one has a footage camera. They have video cameras. Footage is what we get off those video cameras. Another definition,-- :In filmmaking and video production, footage is the raw, unedited material as it had been originally filmed by movie camera or recorded by a video camera which... "

disorderly · « **Reply #2 on:** April 06, 2013, 10:40 »

Words don't always disappear when their original context changes. We still dial phone numbers, but when was the last time you saw a phone with a dial? As for postprocess vs. develop, I don't see them as having the same meaning. Development has been replaced by RAW processing, or in the case of JPEG, it's done in camera in the same way that Polaroid cameras did. Postprocessing happens later during printing or by modifying the negative or a print. But it's the work that's done after development, not a substitute for it.

cascoly · « **Reply #3 on:** April 06, 2013, 15:16 »

not to mention:
typing
cut & paste
cc & bcc

dbvirago · « **Reply #4 on:** April 06, 2013, 18:55 »

Anybody dial a phone?

stockastic · « **Reply #5 on:** April 06, 2013, 20:48 »

'Dialing' a phone is an interesting case because even though the dial is gone, there isn't really a good substitute. It would be awkward to say I'm "entering" or "keying in" a number.

I use "postprocess" to refer to anything done to the photo after taking it.

There are many words that hang around even though the original meaning is lost and it's an interesting subject. "Footage" just seems exceptionally odd to me. If - as Zeus says - "footage" originally meant the raw unedited material, well then it's not really appropriate, is it? Because you're uploading the edited version.

sharpshot · « **Reply #6 on:** April 07, 2013, 04:16 »

Shooting has always seemed much odder to me. I'd rather photograph or film someone than shoot them

stockastic · « **Reply #7 on:** April 07, 2013, 10:57 »

I never say "shoot" , "shot", or (shudder) "a shoot". But what really seems pretentious to me is when someone says "I made this photo" instead of "I took it".

RacePhoto · « **Reply #8 on:** April 07, 2013, 15:50 »

Sorry but you have it backwards. We don't take photos we Make them. Has nothing to do with pretentious, it's what people do when they create. Maybe you snap and take, but photographers make images.

You don’t take a photograph, you make it.- Ansel Adams

Although I think Alfred Stieglitz may have said something similar before him.

Quote from: stockastic on April 07, 2013, 10:57

I never say "shoot" , "shot", or (shudder) "a shoot". But what really seems pretentious to me is when someone says "I made this photo" instead of "I took it".

stockastic · « **Reply #9 on:** April 07, 2013, 16:06 »

To each his own.

gillian vann · « **Reply #10 on:** April 12, 2013, 18:24 »

I shudder at "snaps". I often get asked if I have any "snaps" I can give people. I usually reply, somewhat pretentiously, "I don't take snaps".

crazychristina · « **Reply #11 on:** April 12, 2013, 19:10 »

I think many cinematographers still use film rather than digital.

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Author Topic: use of the term "footage" (Read 2850 times)

stockastic

PeterChigmaroff

disorderly

cascoly

dbvirago

stockastic

sharpshot

stockastic

RacePhoto

stockastic

gillian vann

crazychristina

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