Are digital cameras used in film-making

A.� Digital technology is set to revolutionise the film industry. By means of high-definition technology, film images can be produced that have remarkable clarity - and even more importantly - give directors greater power to change images on computer. Industry watchers believe that high-definition cameras will be a major step in the digital revolution of cinema. It could even sound a death knell for film photography, which is increasingly derided by film-makers.

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Q.� WIll audiences see a huge difference

A.� Not yet. The problem is that most cinemas do not yet have digital technology to screen film in the way they were intended. As a result, they will have to be scanned onto a 35mm film, which will mean some ofthe advances will not be noticebale.

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Q.� Which films will use digital technology

A.� A French blockbuster starring Gerard Depardieu will be the first� film to use digital technology when it is screened in Hollywood next month. Vidocq, a fantastical thriller about the world's first private detective is set in 19th century Paris, but has been filmed with high-definition cameras. Hollywood's George Lucas had hoped to premiere this technology in the latest instalment of his epic series of Star Wars films, but had to wait. T

he movie has an all-star French cast, including Depardieu, Guillaume Canet and Ines Sastre, and a 150 million franc budget.� The technology used on Vidocq meant the director could manipulate 800 of the 2,300 scenes after filming.

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Q.� Did Lucas choose this movie to show the new technology

A.� The director is a Frenchman, known simply as Pitof. He worked with Jean-Pierre Jeunet on Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children, and Jeunet's Hollywood picture Alien: Resurrection. He has also worked on the special effects of films such as Luc Besson's biopic Joan of Arc and the French hit Asterix and Obelisk Versus Caesar. On Vidocq, Pitof used the same camera technology George Lucas has been developing with Sony and Panasonic for his latest picture Star Wars - Episode 11 - Attack of the Clones. Lucas has been a great champion of digital cameras in cinema, chiefly because they make it easier to produce sophisticated special effects after filming. By his own admission, Lucas made a great mistake with his previous film, Star Wars - Episode 1, The Phantom Menace, in using ordinary film. Footage had to be scanned into computers for special effects work, and the printed back onto film to show into cinemas. His latest Star Wars film has been made entirely using high-definition digital cameras. It took three months to film but is spending 18 months in post production for release in 2002.

Vidocq is released in France on September 19.

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By Katharine MacColl