The DV aesthetic increasingly has to suit the project. When I get sent a script, I look at the story and decide what format, or combination of formats, would suit that story. We aren't interested in using DV because it's cheaper. If it allows the filmmaker to tell a better story, we'll use it. But the small scale of the DV projects also helped us.
Some people figure they can make a profit from investing in a small film.
The actors were also pleased. We could cover so much ground in a shoot day, there was less standing around for them. We shot 'Session 9' in an abandoned asylum in Boston, and another advantage of the camera was that it allowed us to shoot in very low light. With the HD format, instead of watching a crappy video playback, I had these great images on the monitors. This allowed me to be more involved with the cinematography, the lighting, etc.