To give some feeling for the difference between editing a film 30 years ago and today, simply on an economic level, it's worth remembering that the machine on which we edited films long ago was the Moviola. And in today's dollars, pounds, that machine would cost somewhere around $45,000 to get this machine. And film itself, ten minutes of 35mm film today, in today's dollars would cost $650 for ten minutes of 35mm film. Back then, it was 10¢ a foot. If you do the math, that's $100 for ten minutes, and working inflation and... So $650 for ten minutes of film. And then even splicing tape, the tape that you used to put the things together was then $10 a roll, and today that would be $65-$70 for just a roll of tape. Because it was very special tape that had a kind of adhesive that would make it possible to go through projectors. So simply to get in the door with equipment was this big investment of money that...
And that has simply disappeared. Everyone now has an iPhone, and you can actually edit a movie on an iPhone. And almost everyone has a laptop or a desk computer, and that's what I use to edit with. So I'm not using... Even on very expensive films, I'm using the same equipment that you use to write cooking recipes. And you know, the software for editing, you can find free software to edit. So people starting out in film today, editorially, are already way ahead of the game in terms of what... 'Give me something to work with.' 'Well, there it is', you know? Or you can shoot it yourself with your iPhone and start editing. And the downside of that, of course, is that because it's generally available and free, that there's more people doing it. Whereas back then, the bottleneck was much narrower.
It didn't seem, you know... In retrospect, it didn't seem... We knew, oh, that's very expensive, for a roll of tape? You know, you'd be used to, in those days, pay, you know, 35¢ for a roll of Scotch tape, and I'm paying $10 for a roll of Mylar tape? Well, the explanation that was given to us was: the tape has to be perforated and perforating the tapes... The machine has to be very finely machined, and it's only for this one industry, and the Mylar is actually very tough. And so the machines wear out and they have to be replaced frequently, and that's why it's $10 a roll. So it's reasonable, but nonetheless very expensive. So the doorway has vastly widened, and more films are being put together now. In some form than ever before, we live in a completely media-saturated environment compared to the way it was 40 or 50 years ago. And even then, we felt we were living in a media-saturated environment. But compared to today, there's just no comparison. So on the one hand, be very thankful that the costs have come down. On the other hand, be wary of the fact that that means that many more people are trying to do the same thing you are, and it's harder to make your voice heard. But there are forums for this, if you do something interesting, all you have to do is post it on YouTube and hope that it goes viral, and somebody says, 'Who is that person? Let's talk to that person.' So it's... These are inconceivable differences that are very hard for us to conceive who have grown up on the other side of that. We're used to them now, but still, when we compare one with the other, it's a big, big difference.
