Jake Seal Talks About how film can outlast digital storage for centuries

In this episode, Jake Seal dives into why film still matters in a digital world. Hear how celluloid can survive centuries while hard drives fail. Jake shares real stories, insights, and his passion for keeping our creative legacy alive—one reel at a time. If you care about timeless storytelling, you won’t want to miss this.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jake Seal talks about how film can outlast digital storage
for centuries. Hey everyone, Jake Seal here and today I
want to share something that's really close to my heart.
It's a question I get all the time, why do
you still shoot on film in a world that's gone
almost entirely digital? For me, the answer is simple, film
can outlast any digital format we've ever invented. And that's

(00:24):
not just a romantic idea, it's a fact. Look, I
love digital technology. I use it every day. It's fast,
it's convenient. It's opened up filmmaking to so many new voices,
and that's incredible. But when you're talking about preserving our
work for the future, for decades, even centuries, digital has

(00:45):
some serious weaknesses that people don't always think about. Your
hard drives, they're not forever. They fail, File formats go obsolete,
servers shut down companies that most you or cloud forever
is storage. They can disappear. Just look back at floppy disks, vhs,

(01:06):
even DVDs. At one time they were cutting itche Now
good luck finding a machine that can read them. But film,
real physical celluloid. That's different. When you shoot on film
and you store it properly. You're creating something that's proven
to survive for more than a century. Museums still screen

(01:28):
films from the early nineteen hundreds. The color, the grain,
the emotion, it's all there, no special software required, just
light passing through film and onto a screen. And you
know what else, It's not just about technology. There's something
so real about film. Each frame is a physical record

(01:50):
of that moment. It's not zero's and one sitting on
a fragile drive. It's actual light captured in a tangible form.
You can hold it in your hands. I've seen productions
lose entire projects because they trusted digital alone. Maybe they
didn't back it up properly, or the format changed, or
the drive degraded. Imagine spending millions on a shute only

(02:14):
to find out years later you can't access the footage.
That's heart breaking. So for me, shooting on film is
like creating a time capsule. I know that if I
store those reels right, cool, dry, protected, they're going to
be around long after I'm gone. They're going to be
there for our kids, our grand kids, and maybe even

(02:35):
their grand kids to see, to study, to feel inspired by. Now,
don't get me wrong, Digital is an incredible tool. But
if you really care about legacy, if you care about
the art and the history of what you're making, there's
nothing like film. It doesn't rely on constant updates. It
doesn't disappear when the power goes out. It just waits

(02:58):
patiently for someone to shine a light through it again.
So next time you see someone loading celluloid into a camera,
don't think they're just being old fashioned. They're investing in
a story that can outlast any drive or server. They're
building something that, with a little care, will still be
here a hundred years from now, and that, to me

(03:21):
is magic. Thanks for listening. I'm Jake Seal and I'll
catch you next time.