At roughly ten percent of the cost of their precursors, the latest in digital editing suites have opened the film production floodgates, placing professional editing equipment within the reach of small scale production houses and independent directors.

After completing her degree in film and video production at the University of Technology Sydney, Wendy Dent was faced with the stark reality of working in her chosen profession.

"Without technology I would have to get a job as a gaffer or a receptionist at a production company and spend the next ten years trying to convince everyone I was really a director," Dent says.

Instead she took a job in market research, and set about furnishing a spare room with all she needed to produce her own films.

Over the next seven years, she managed to make 20 films covering a range of styles and subjects, including a feature length documentary and feature-length drama. Now working as production coordinator in Sydney, she rejects the notion that the proliferation of high-quality but inexpensive video editing equipment will only result in the proliferation of low-quality films.

"Young film makers are now not consigned to a 20-year progression before they begin doing what they trained to do," Dent says. "I was able to prove my capabilities by creating a body of work and that would have been impossible without access to editing software."

However, the proliferation of inexpensive film production equipment is not without its critics. Matthew Tucker, general manager of Film Australia studios, is concerned that quality will lose out to quantity, as the technology becomes more readily available.

"Digital technology is convenient, fast and cheap, but it is not necessarily better, the lenses and microphones on a lot of the digital cameras are poor quality, and a lot rely on auto-focus, so you end up with hours of interviews in which the interviewee is in focus but the background isn't," Tucker says.

He goes on to point out that as digital technologies have reduced the cost associated with shooting footage, young directors are tending toward sloppy practices when it comes to film making.

"Producers can now afford to shoot huge amounts of footage, then there is hardly enough time to look at it all when they come in to edit it," Tucker said.

Similarly SBS's Woolmer says some technologies have affected a radical change in the way television is produced. However, he is not quite as critical of the new practices.

"There used to be a lot more preplanning and visualisation prior to filming, and producers didn't like making many changes, now a lot of the script writing starts in the video suite," Woolmer says.

However, Woolmer does not believe the ease of access to such systems will ultimately affect the quality of the material which is produced.

"There is a parallel with the advent of desktop publishing," says Woolmer. "When desktop publishing first came out everybody decided they could produce their own brochures and leaflets so they did, and they all looked terrible, so eventually everyone went back to the professionals."

Tucker, however, is also concerned regarding the skill levels and approach of film and television editors.

"Editors are trained story-tellers, not technicians," Tucker says. "With a Final Cut Pro system in place it is tempting just to employ an editor who can use the software over one who can tell the story," Tucker says.

Perhaps capturing generational differences, Dent points out that up-and-coming producers and directors will learn how to use the technology associated with film making out of necessity.

"If something goes wrong when you are working on you own you don't have anyone to call on, you just have to do learn how to do it yourself," Dent says. "I now know how to take apart a computer and put it back together again, install extra storage if I need it, and fix a 100 gigabyte drive when it dies two days before a major project deadline."

This is the second part of a ZDNet Australia film industry trilogy. Click here for part one - The movie metamorphosis, or here to read the third and final chapter - The future is connectivity.

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