Abstract by John Ellis

John Ellis will outline how documentary makers took advantage of the affordances of various digital devices as they arrived in the period from 1995-2015. This transitional period is one of uneven development. Each innovation brought fresh requirements for changes elsewhere in the production process. Digital cameras required digital editing; sound mixing and dubbing were slow to catch up. Temporary ‘solutions’ were developed and trialled. Production and post-production services struggled to cope with the changes, especially in the traditional large broadcasting organisations. Then, quite suddenly, it was all over. The durable infrastructure of film-based production almost vanished in an astonishing short period of time. Digital production had established a new set of routines and standards. Complaints about the ‘problems of the digital’ gave way to regret for the lost disciplines of film-based production.