One of the UK's oldest cinemas has played host to a showcase of films made using the latest digital technology.

The Duke of York's cinema at Preston Circus, Brighton, screened six films made under the auspices of the Film Council's Digital Shorts regional production scheme.

The scheme, co-ordinated in the South by the Brighton-based film and digital media training centre Lighthouse, was established so emerging film-makers could shoot innovative short films using digital technology, which is cheaper to use, process, store and edit.

Digital video cameras can record high-quality images on tapes which can be edited on computer.

The scheme is funded by Lighthouse and the National Lottery through the Film Council.

Although the films'

directors came from various regions, the five producers were from Brighton.

Each film had a budget of between £5,000 and £7,000.

They were: Whoosh, directed by Rozi Peters;

Hard Labour (directed by Oliver Krimpas); Carpet People (Devlin Crow); The Knowledge (Stef Penney);

First To See The Sun (Joe Tunmer) and Buckethead and the Rapture (Matt Brownsword).

There were 112 applicants for the scheme who were judged by representatives from Lighthouse and the Film Council and an independent script consultant.

Twenty-one were shortlisted and interviewed and the final six were selected on the the basis of the strength of the script, the director's vision and the quality of their previous work.

Lighthouse said it was keen to use Digital Shorts to identify directing talent and provide opportunities for regional production companies, which could provide the foundations of a sustainable industry in the region.

Head of film and TV Caroline Freeman said digital technology helped to democratise film making by bringing down the cost of production.

She said: "Although this means more films, it doesn't necessarily mean better films.

"The main advantage for a small country like ours with an indigenous film industry is it can enable us to make films for less money. This means films don't always need to attract massive audiences.

"It also enables directors to further explore film making, with actors and the technology, because the process isn't so restricted."

Mr Krimpas said: "You never have to worry about running out of film so you never have to worry about extra takes."

Mr Tunmer said:

"Selling out the Duke of York's cinema, which I've worked in, for one of my films is a great feeling."

The screenings came at an important time for digital film-making following the publication of a report by media research specialists Screen Digest for the Department for Culture, Media And Sport (DCMS).

Minister for film Kim Howells said the report was an excellent starting point for discussion and he hoped its findings would encourage action from the film industry, backed by the government.

He said: "We want to provoke a wide-ranging discussion, not just among those few in the industry who are closely involved in these issues.

"The wider film industry needs to think about this and to do so now. Digital technology is upon us but its uses are not yet fully implemented or maybe even perceived."

Award-winning film director Steven Soderbergh, who has had big budget hits with Traffic, Ocean's Eleven and Erin Brockavich, has made his latest film, Full Frontal, using consumer digital cameras.

It was edited using off-the-shelf software running on Apples Macs.

Meanwhile, the search is on for next year's best digital shorts, details of which can be found on the Lighthouse web site.

www.lighthouse.org.uk
www.filmcouncil.org.uk
www.screendigest.com
www.culture.gov.uk